Avalanche defeat Stars in Game 6 of Western Second Round, even series

Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist, and the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Dallas Stars 4-1 in Game 6 to even the Western Conference Second Round series at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Wednesday.

MacKinnon extended his point streak to 14 games (nine goals, 16 assists) to begin the postseason, tied with Mark Messier (Edmonton Oilers in 1988) and Bobby Orr (Boston Bruins in 1970) for the second longest in NHL history. Bryan Trottier holds the record at 18 games for New York Islanders in 1981.
"You have to learn from what you did well every night and what you need to work on," MacKinnon said. "We're going to do that. We're going to review this game, find some things we need to improve on, but also build on the positives things. … Hopefully we can move on to the third round."
WATCH: [All Avalanche vs. Stars highlights]
Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist, and Michael Hutchinson made 27 saves for Colorado, the No. 2 seed in the West, which has won two straight.
Game 7 will be in Edmonton, the West hub city, on Friday (4 p.m. ET; USA, SN, TVAS).
Teams that win Games 5 and 6 after trailing a series 3-1 are 29-28 (50.8 percent) winning a best-of-7 Stanley Cup Playoff series.
"In terms of Game 7, it's my third one," MacKinnon said. "I guess I haven't won one yet. Looking to change that in a couple days here. Excited for the challenge. It's going to be the toughest game for us to win."
Miro Heiskanen scored, and Anton Khudobin made 20 saves for Dallas, the No. 3 seed.
"We all know what happened last year," Stars forward Tyler Seguin said. "We were in this position (up 3-2 against the St. Louis Blues in second round), a chance to win it in Game 6 on home ice. ... Game 7 we lost last year. So we have a chance to redeem ourselves. I definitely do think as an organization we've been trending in the right way, and this is the next step. It's going to be a big one for us in a couple of days."
Cale Makar gave the Avalanche a 2-1 lead at 7:48 of the second period, scoring top shelf after receiving a drop pass from Rantanen.

Rantanen then made it 3-1 at 3:21 of the third off a saucer pass from MacKinnon, who shot into an empty net at 17:14 for the 4-1 final.
"We needed to get more disciplined, a little more intelligent in our approach to the game, and I thought we did that tonight," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said of his team, which took one minor penalty. "We didn't have a great start, energy wasn't great, I didn't think for either team. … I thought our guys really showed up to accomplish taking this thing to a Game 7."
Heiskanen gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 17:35 of the first period off a drop pass from Mattias Janmark, but Nikita Zadorov tied it 1-1 with 32 seconds left in the period with a shot through traffic.
Dallas has scored four goals in the past two games after scoring at least five in four of its previous five games.
"We need more O-zone time, that's the bottom line," Stars forward Alexander Radulov said. "We have to find a way. Game 7 coming up, won't be easy, but we'll be ready for it."

Radulov, Seguin and Jamie Benn have combined for three points (two goals, one assist) in the past three games after getting 15 (six goals, nine assists) in the first three games of the series.
"Their top players are producing and ours are not," Stars coach Rick Bowness said. "Don't sugarcoat it. It is what it is. Your top players have to carry you this time of year. You put them in the position of ice time and best offensive positions you can, and they have to produce. That's what it is."
Avalanche forward Gabriel Landeskog was cut by the skate of Makar in late in the second period and played one 16-second shift in the third.
"I'm not really too sure how or what cut it, but obviously he is a big loss," Makar said. "We saw him out there at the end, so hopefully he can get back to 100 percent if he isn't already and be ready for the next game."
NOTES: Heiskanen has a 11 points (three goals, eight assists) during a seven-game point streak, a Stars/Minnesota North Stars playoff record for a defenseman. … Rantanen extended his point streak to nine games (six goals, nine assists). … The Avalanche are 6-8 in Game 7s in Colorado/Quebec Nordiques history, including 4-7 since relocating prior to the 1995-96 season. Dallas is 5-8 in Game 7s in Stars/North Stars history, including 2-4 since relocating prior to the 1993-94 season.
NHL.com staff writer Tracey Myers contributed to this report