DALLAS — Colin Blackwell scored 17:46 into overtime to give the Dallas Stars a 4-3 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Monday night. The win tied the first-round Western Conference series at 1-1.
Blackwell originally fired a shot that bounced off teammate Sam Steel and Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard in front of the net. With the puck loose on the ice, the fourth-line forward circled and .
“It’s been a long season, and not playing the first game, stuff like that, just kind of been in and out of the lineup toward the end here,” Blackwell said. “I always felt my game’s kinda built for the playoffs and stuff along those lines. I love rising to the occasion and playing in moments like this.”
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Tyler Seguin, Thomas Harley and Evgenii Dadonov also scored for Dallas. The Stars avoided losing the first two games at home in an opening-round series for the second straight year. They began the postseason with a seven-game losing streak (0-5-2) and had lost eight straight Game 1s since 2022.
“Obviously it’s a fresh new season in the playoffs, but it’s been a little bit since we won a game,” Seguin said. “It’s almost like going through a slump. You’ve got to try to just break it and simplify. We did that tonight and have something great to build off of.”
Colorado finished the final 1:26 of regulation and the first 34 seconds of overtime on a power play after a hooking penalty against Mikko Rantenen, who the Avalanche traded on Jan. 24 to Carolina in the East, where he played only 13 games before getting traded March 7 back to the Central Division to Dallas and getting a new $96 million, eight-year contract.
Stars goalie Jake Oettinger made 34 saves. Mackenzie Blackwood recorded 35 saves in his second career playoff game, but the final shot slipped off his left shoulder.
Nathan MacKinnon scored on the power play for his third goal of the series and his 51st in the NHL playoffs. Jack Drury and Logan O’Connor also scored for Colorado.
“Every time you lose a game that you play pretty good, you lose an opportunity to take control of a series,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said.
The series moves to Denver for Game 3 on Wednesday night. Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog was activated off injured reserve early Monday and could play for the first time in nearly three years. His last game was June 26, 2022, before a chronic right knee injury that required two surgeries and multiple comeback attempts. He was a scratch for Game 2 after skating in pregame warmups.
O’Connor gave Colorado a go-ahead goal late in the second period as Mason Marchment was draped around him, putting the Avalanche up 3-2. That came not long after Dallas used a timeout in hopes of capitalizing on a short two-man advantage but failed to score during nearly four minutes of power play time.
Dallas regained momentum with 4:48 left in the second period. Blackwood immediately made a sliding kick save to deny Marchment. With seven seconds left on the power play, Colorado took another penalty and Stars coach Pete DeBoer called timeout. Charlie Coyle won the ensuing faceoff for Colorado, and the Avs quickly erased the two-man advantage.
Harley’s goal at 3:40 of the second period gave Dallas its first lead of the series. Sixty-two seconds later Drury tied it at 2 with Rantanen close by. Drury joined Colorado from Carolina as part of the original trade that sent Rantanen to the Hurricanes.
The Stars matched MacKinnon’s goal with a power-play tally in the final minute of the first period. Captain Jamie Benn skated behind the net, fed Marchment in the right circle, and Marchment pushed the puck across to Seguin in the opposite circle for a slap shot.
Seguin was playing only his third game since missing 58 contests over 4 1/2 months after left hip surgery. He returned for the regular-season finale last Wednesday and had not scored since the day after Thanksgiving.
“Honestly I think scoring a goal is almost like the last thing you almost kind of think of,” he said. “There’s so many things to getting back in the lineup that you’re thinking about, whether it’s your body or details of the game. And when you get a goal, that’s something again to build off of.”
