Special teams were critical in this impressive comeback, though all of that would have been a moot point were it not for the dynamite goaltending of Anton Khudobin.
Yes, a pair of power-play goals during a two-man advantage absolutely helped the Dallas Stars turn the tables during the second period of a game that could have gone sideways in a hurry.
But it was Khudobin that made the important saves that prevented the Colorado Avalanche from extending the lead and possibly putting this game on ice.
Despite another explosive effort from the scoring leader of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Stars interrupted the latest edition of the Nathan MacKinnon Show with a 5-2 triumph over the Avalanche on Monday night to take a 2-0 lead in this best-of-seven series.
“(Khudobin) was a big part of that,” said Stars forward Joe Pavelski, who scored his seventh goal of the playoffs to cue the comeback. “He made some big saves and we knew that was going to be one of the better pushes they were going to have. When they push, sometimes you’ve got to hold on at times. We had to get our game going. We had to get emotionally involved, physically involved.
“It was up to us to kind of catch up and (Khudobin) did a good job of finding us some extra time to not let this game get out of hand.”
The Stars made life a bit more difficult for themselves with a flat opening period that saw MacKinnon record more shots on goal (seven) than the entire Dallas hockey club (six, compared to the 20 the Avalanche produced).
The ice was tilted significantly, as MacKinnon and linemate Mikko Rantanen each delivered a goal and an assist as Colorado scored twice with the man advantage.
MacKinnon is up to five points in the series, 16 in the post-season and has put together a 10-game playoff point streak, which ties a franchise record shared previously by Marian Stastny and Joe Sakic (who is currently the Avalanche general manager).
But after minor penalties to Avalanche blue-liners Samuel Girard and Ian Cole, the Stars were able to chip away at the two-goal deficit.
Thanks to goals from Pavelski (on the two-man advantage) and Radek Faksa (during the minor to Cole), Dallas tied the contest and stole the momentum.
Alexander Radulov had a pass from Jamie Benn carom off the stick of Girard, then off Radulov’s body and over Avalanche goalie Pavel Francouz for a goal that gave the Stars a lead they would not relinquish.
Radulov has caught fire in this series and now has recorded the game-winning goal in consecutive games. With two points on Monday, he’s up to five goals and eight points in 11 games.
Since the Stars realize it’s going to be nearly impossible to contain MacKinnon, there was pressure on the top unit of Tyler Seguin, Benn and Radulov to counter – and so far, they’ve delivered.
The game was not without at least some mild controversy, as the Stars’ fourth goal required an official review to confirm the puck fully crossed the line.
The goal was the result of a diligent individual effort from Stars defenceman Esa Lindell, an important member of the penalty killing unit that extinguished a two-man disadvantage when the game was tied 2-2.
After the Stars were able to kill off another minor penalty, Lindell won a race against Joonas Donskoi and drove hard to the net with possession, banging away at the loose puck Francouz could not cover.
Lindell’s second effort at it was enough for him to raise his arms in celebration and the play was ruled a goal on the ice.
“The second whack was already in and I gave it one more to be sure,” Lindell said.
Lindell was a force throughout the contest and the insurance marker was a just reward according to his head coach.
“Effort. Just pure passion and effort. He just was not going to be denied,” Stars bench boss Rick Bowness said. “It would have been easy for him to just chip the puck in and change, but he saw an opening and he took advantage of it. That was pure determination on that goal.”
While camera angles of Lindell’s face shown during the review suggested he wasn’t entirely sure the goal was going to hold up, Bowness did his best to keep an even keel before the decision was delivered.
“Those reviews are totally out of your control, so you can’t get wrapped up in the highs and lows of it — no matter what happens,” Bowness said. “As we talk about with the players, just get ready for your next shift. If we get it, fine. And if we don’t, fine. We stayed in the moment and we got the call.”
That’s a great approach to take, but there was no doubt the Stars got a massive boost in taking the two-goal lead, while the Avalanche sagged and had trouble snapping out of it.
There was no camera angle that provided indisputable evidence that the puck didn’t fully cross the line, so the call on the ice stood.
Instead of a one-goal deficit, the Avalanche had given up a fourth consecutive goal in the final minute of the second period.
Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar had a chat with the men in stripes after the final decision was made and he considered a coach’s challenge but chose to abstain.
With his team already reeling a bit, the prospect of incurring a delay-of-game minor had the challenge not been successful would have been a risky proposition.
“I don’t know that it crossed the line, I don’t,” Bednar said. “I wish they had blown it dead if they were unsure, if they hadn’t seen it cross. Just blow it dead and then they can go to Toronto and look at it to see if it did cross. They call it a goal, I don’t know if it was based on the celebration or if they saw something that I didn’t. If it crosses the line, great. Award them the goal. I don’t like getting a goal against our team that I still don’t know if it crossed.
“But to me, it’s maybe a mistake, maybe it’s not. I have no idea. Our resolve just wasn’t where it needs to be after a bad break or a bad penalty. The game is not over. As a team, at this time of the year, we have to expect more from each other. We’ve got to be stronger mentally. We got a little disappointed and felt sorry for ourselves a little bit. There was still half a game to play and it cost us. We can handle it better and we’re going to have to moving forward.”
Avalanche goalie Pavel Francouz made it clear he doesn’t agree with the call.
“Honestly, I think (the puck) was underneath my pad and it was in front of the goal line all the time,” Francouz said. “I don’t really know what the ref saw. That’s a tough goal.”
The most revealing angle was one that showed the stick of Lindell’s past the blade of Girard, which was fully over the goal line.
One of the obvious storylines going into the contest surrounded Francouz, who has been forced into action after Philipp Grubauer suffered a lower-body injury in Game 1 of this series and is out indefinitely.
The Avalanche were also without defenceman Erik Johnson and feisty forward Matt Calvert, both of whom are dealing with injuries.
Francouz wasn’t tested much in the opening period, nor did he allow any softies as the Stars took control of the contest. But the fact remains he turned aside only 22 of the 26 shots he faced and was the second-best goalie on the ice.
The larger issue for the Avalanche was that they’ve had limited offensive contributions from players not named MacKinnon or Rantanen and that’s a trend that must stop immediately if Colorado is to make this a series.
“For us, it’s a seven-game series for a reason,” Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog said. “We feel like, more than anything, we’re in this thing. We’ve been up 2-0 before and we know how quick it can turn — and all of a sudden, it’s a tied series.
“There’s no quit in this group.”
It’s easy to forget the Stars have played most of these first two rounds without starting goalie Ben Bishop, who has been limited to two starts and hasn’t played since Game 2 against the Calgary Flames due to an injury.
Stars general manager Jim Nill made a commitment to supplying his team with one of the best backups in the NHL when he signed Khudobin to a two-year deal worth $5 million on July 1 of 2018.
With an AAV of $2.5 million, Khudobin has supplied plenty of value already and he’s sure to earn a raise if he hits the free agent market at the end of the season.
Limited to 11 minutes of action in mop-up duty during the playoffs last spring, Khudobin has provided the type of goaltending a team needs to go on a run.
“When I play more, I feel better,” Khudobin said. “It’s a different scenario right now, but it’s the playoffs and you can’t think about it. Just go (out) and play. I feel better than the first couple of games.”
For the time being, Khudobin’s latest heroics have helped the Stars pull within two wins of reaching the Western Conference final.
The Stars haven’t forgotten the pain and heartache they endured after taking the eventual Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues to double overtime of Game 7 in the second round last spring.
Motivation comes in many forms and this battle-tested group learned another valuable lesson in perseverance on Monday.
As a result, the Stars took another important step closer to reaching their collective goal.
But it’s just one step. Nothing more, nothing less.
“Until you put a team away, you just can’t feel comfortable,” Pavelski said. “We’ve done our job so far, but there’s a ways to go. We’ll catch our breath, we’ll see where we can improve and we’ll come back at them.”
