Matt Duchene broke the heart of his former team by sending his current club to a second straight Western Conference final.
Duchene scored at 11:42 of the second overtime and the Dallas Stars wrapped up their Western Conference semifinal series with a 2-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche in Game 6 on Friday in Denver.
Duchene, who played his first nine NHL seasons for the Avalanche, picked up a rebound right of the crease and lifted a wrister over Alexandar Georgiev to send Dallas to the conference finals.
“Really happy for Dutchie,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said.
The Stars will have home-ice advantage against either the Canucks or the Oilers in the next round. Vancouver holds a 3-2 edge in its best-of-seven set heading into Game 6 on Saturday at Edmonton.
Colorado traded Duchene to the Ottawa Senators in November 2018. He subsequently played for the Columbus Blue Jackets and Nashville Predators before signing with the Stars last summer as a depth piece. The veteran forward rewarded them with a series-clinching goal to make his first trip to the third round of the playoffs.
“The opportunity to sign here was one I jumped at,” Duchene said. “From the time I’ve signed here, I’ve been very grateful and looking forward to these opportunities. This is only the second time I’ve been past the first round and now we’re going to the conference finals. At 33, there’s a certain level of appreciation you have.”
It was another early exit for the Avalanche after they won it all in 2022 and the second straight year their season ended at home. They lost Game 7 to the Seattle Kraken in the first round of the postseason last year and failed to win a home game in the just-concluded series against Dallas.
“The effort was there the whole series, just a tough team,” Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon said. “We played two of the toughest teams in the league right off the bat and just didn’t score enough.”
Duchene atoned for his goaltender-interference infraction in the first overtime that wiped away a potential Mason Marchment goal at 12:31. He also had a chance to win it when he came in alone 25 seconds into the second overtime, but Georgiev made a lunging save.
“It can be tough to reset after you think it’s over,” Duchene said of the disallowed goal. “It’s kind of a gut punch, but everyone reset and kept going.”
Jamie Benn also scored and Jake Oettinger had 29 saves for the Stars, including two big ones in the second overtime.
“You never know how many times to get this opportunity to win the Stanley Cup and to really feel like you have the team that can do it,” Oettinger said. “To get to the conference finals two years in a row is an accomplishment, but the whole run’s a waste unless you win the whole thing.”
Mikko Rantanen had a goal and Georgiev turned away 36 shots for the Avalanche, who struggled in Denver during the series after posting the best home record in the NHL during the regular season.
“It sucks,” Colorado defenseman Cale Makar said. “It’s a devastating result where we feel, with all our pieces, we can make a push for the whole thing.”
Both teams had chances in a tight-checking first period. Dallas winger Evgenii Dadonov’s backhander at a wide-open net went off the outside of the post. In the final minute, Colorado’s Artturi Lehkonen nearly scored on a rebound, but Oettinger got a pad on it and Dadonov kept it out of the net.
The Avalanche cashed in on their only power play when Rantanen roofed a shot over Oettinger’s left shoulder at 5:48 of the second period.
It was his fourth goal of the playoffs and the first time in the series the Avalanche scored first.
The Stars tied it at 1:56 of the third period. Benn got a pass from Dadonov as he skated down the slot, deked Georgiev and slid a backhand in for his third goal of the postseason.
Dallas was without top center Roope Hintz for the second straight game due to an upper-body injury. Stars defenseman Nils Lundkvist also was out, and Alexander Petrovic took his place on the third pairing.
Colorado was missing fourth-line center Yakov Trenin, who left Game 5 with an injury. Chris Wagner took his spot in the lineup.
–Field Level Media
