Stars defeat Avalanche in Game 3, take lead in Western 2nd Round

DENVER -- Jake Oettinger made 28 saves for the Dallas Stars in a 4-1 win against the Colorado Avalanche in Game 3 of the Western Conference Second Round at Ball Arena on Saturday.

Colorado entered the game leading the Stanley Cup Playoffs in scoring at five goals per game, and had not scored fewer than three in any of its first seven games this postseason.

“I’ve said it last year in the playoffs, I’ve said it this year in the playoffs, [Oettinger] has the ability to raise his game at the most important times,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “I thought tonight when it was most hectic, he was the calmest player on the ice for us. Which is what you need your goaltender to be, to give you that calming influence. I think that’s what he does for us when he’s playing like he is right now.”

Dallas leads the best-of-7 series 2-1. Game 4 is at Colorado on Monday (9:30 p.m. ET; ESPN, FX-CA, SN, TVAS).

Tyler Seguin and Logan Stankoven each scored twice for the Stars, who are the No. 1 seed from the Central Division.

“I think our group took it personally when everyone questioned whether we could hold a lead in the third. It was warranted with how the first two games went,” DeBoer said. “But we knew we were better than that. We’ve been really good in those situations all year, been great on the road all year. We just felt comfortable tonight. The details of our game tonight were outstanding.

“I don’t think a coach has ever seen a perfect game, but that’s as close to a perfect road game as you can play, in my mind, coming into this situation. We knew they were going to come out guns-a-blazing in the first period. You knew their home record. You knew they had challenged their best players, their coach did after last game. So, we knew we were going to get a lot thrown at us early in that game. Our composure throughout the night was outstanding.”

Mikko Rantanen scored, and Alexandar Georgiev made 19 saves for the Avalanche, who are the No. 3 seed from the Central.

“I felt like we carried some long stretches of the game for the first 40 minutes. My one take would be we’ve got to make it a little bit tougher on Oettinger, getting traffic there,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “We had a couple of really good looks in the first and didn't do it. We had a couple of really good looks in the second and next thing you know, we're down by one.

“Just kind of feels like we push, push, push and then we make one mistake and it ended up in the back of the net in the second, which is unfortunate. But you can’t make those mistakes against Dallas because they have the ability to [capitalize].”

Stankoven gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 18:39 of the first period on a wrist shot from the left face-off circle that went past the arm of Georgiev. It was the rookie’s first career playoff goal.

“I think it’s always nice to contribute. I feel like I’ve been doing the right things but just couldn’t find the back of the net,” Stankoven said. “There’s always bumps in the road being a young guy in the League, so I’m just trying to find my way and earn the coaches’ trust.”

Rantanen tied it 1-1 at 10:24 of the second period on a rebound of Nathan MacKinnon’s shot in the crease. MacKinnon deked around Stars defenseman Chris Tanev and put his shot off the leg of Evgenii Dadonov.

“I thought we did a lot of great things. We really had a lot of chances, a lot of good looks,” MacKinnon said. “Just Oettinger was great, and we made a couple of big errors that cost us.”

Seguin put the Stars back ahead 2-1 at 15:13 when he deflected a cross-ice pass from Dadonov at the far side of the net.

“We knew coming into this rink how these guys play. We also know how we play on the road,” said Seguin. “We knew it’d be a big challenge. I think next game’s going to be an even bigger challenge, but playoffs are about those moments and getting the right bounces at times as well, and we had that tonight.”

Seguin made it 3-1 at 18:23 of the third period, scoring into an empty net from his own zone. Stankoven also scored an empty-net goal with 28 seconds remaining for the 4-1 final.

“You never know when the moment might be too big for a young player, but [Stankoven’s] handled everything we've thrown at him and excelled,” DeBoer said. “He's made every line he's played on better. And never mind the scoring, his defensive details and his awareness and responsibility on the ice, and when he's got the puck, is way beyond his years.”

NOTES: Stankoven joined Wyatt Johnston as the only Stars rookies with a playoff goal dating to the 2021 playoffs. … Miro Heiskanen recorded his 42nd career playoff assist and tied Saku Koivu for the eighth-most by a Finnish-born player. … Oettinger (1,001 saves) became the sixth goaltender in Stars/North Stars franchise history with at least 1,000 career saves in the playoffs, joining Ed Belfour (1,800), Marty Turco (1,193), Gilles Meloche (1,139), Cesare Maniago (1,026) and Jon Casey (1,016). … Devon Toews’ assist on Rantanen’s goal was his 28th with the Avalanche, which moved him past Rob Blake for the fourth-most by a defenseman in Avalanche/Nordiques history.