Stars rally past Avalanche in Game 2 of Western Second Round, extend lead

The Dallas Stars scored five straight goals in a 5-2 win against the Colorado Avalanche in Game 2 to extend their lead in the Western Conference Second Round at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Monday.

Anton Khudobin made 38 saves, and Alexander Radulov had a goal and an assist for Dallas, the No. 3 seed in the West.
The Stars have won five straight games dating to Game 4 of the first round against the Calgary Flames.
"We've had some comeback wins," forward Joe Pavelski said. "… There's no quit in our]*
Trailing 2-0 in the second period, Dallas scored four times in 9:20, including two power-play goals in 43 seconds to tie the game. Pavelski cut the lead to 2-1 at 9:54 when he scored with a one-timer during a 5-on-3 advantage, and Radek Faksa scored on a goalmouth scramble at 10:37 to tie it 2-2.
The Stars killed a 5-on-3 Colorado advantage of 57 seconds after Andrew Cogliano was called for slashing at 11:05 and Blake Comeau was penalized at 12:08 for delay of game for playing the puck over the glass.
"That was huge," coach Rick Bowness said. "We needed that badly. That carries over into the penalty kill. It got us back into the game, clearly. Now the penalty killers go out and they know they have to do their job, and they did that."
Radulov scored on a deflection in front for a 3-2 lead at 15:34. Jamie Benn's shot hit Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard's stick before bouncing off Radulov's shoulder and past Francouz.
Francouz was making his first start since a 4-2 loss Aug. 15 in Game 2 of the first round against the Arizona Coyotes. Goalie Philipp Grubauer is out indefinitely with an injury he sustained in the second period of a 5-3 loss in Game 1 on Aug. 22.
"This is something I've always dreamed about, a chance for me," Francouz said. "It depends on me how I take this responsibility and help the team win four more games. I'm into it. I know I can help the team more. Just help the team to win, that's my goal."
Esa Lindell gave the Stars a 4-2 lead at 19:14 of the second.
"My goal is to make sure our team is responding after goals-against or a bad bounce here or there, and we still have this belief that we can bounce back from things that are thrown at us," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "There are a lot of things I liked, it's certainly a step forward from Game 1, but now we've put ourselves in a hole."

Jamie Oleksiak scored into an empty net with 10 seconds remaining for the 5-2 final.
Colorado outshot Dallas 20-6 in the first period.
"We were expecting that they were going to come hard as they usually do," Khudobin said. "I wasn't really focusing on the score. I knew we were down. … It's a long game, it's 60 minutes, so I got to just do my job and stop them."
MacKinnon scored a power-play goal to give the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 6:08 of the first. He leads the NHL with 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) and has scored at least one point in all 10 of Colorado's postseason games.
Rantanen scored on the power play at 8:44 of the second to make it 2-0.
"Until you can put a team away, you just can't feel comfortable," Pavelski said. "… That's a good team. We've done our job so far, but there's a ways to go. We'll catch our breath and see where we can improve in certain areas and come back at them."
NOTES: The Stars won five straight playoff games for the first time since winning six straight in 1999, when they won the Stanley Cup. … Pavelski and MacKinnon each has seven goals in the postseason, tied for the NHL lead. … Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson didn't play after sustaining an injury in Game 1 and is out indefinitely. As part of the NHL Return to Play Plan, a team is not permitted to disclose player injury or illness information.
NHL.com staff writer Tracey Myers contributed to this report