Stars defeat Flames in Game 6, push series to limit

DALLAS -- The Dallas Stars stayed alive in the Western Conference First Round with a 4-2 win against the Calgary Flames in Game 6 at American Airlines Center on Friday.

Game 7 will be in Calgary on Sunday.
"We have a confident group," Stars forward Joe Pavelski said. "You know what? It's been a tight series. All the games have been tight, competitive, fun to play in, so yeah, I mean, we're a group, we expect to go in and win, and I'm sure they do, too. We expect the game to be similar as the first six."
Roope Hintz had a goal and an assist, and Jake Oettinger made 36 saves for the Stars, who are the first wild card from the West.
"I know we're not supposed to still be playing, we're supposed to be on a golf vacation right now, but that wasn't our intention going in," Dallas coach Rick Bowness said. "As I said right off the bat, we didn't get into the playoffs to be somebody else's steppingstone in the second round. Here we are going into a Game 7, and our guys deserve a lot of credit."
RELATED: [Complete Flames vs. Stars series coverage]
Michael Stone had a goal and an assist, and Jacob Markstrom made 36 saves for the Flames, the No. 1 seed from the Pacific Division.
"It was a [heck] of a game, we just couldn't get the equalizer," Calgary coach Darryl Sutter said. "It takes a lot (to close out a series), guys are still learning how much it takes."
Hintz gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 14:52 of the first period. Pavelski entered the zone and left a drop pass for Hintz, who shot five-hole from the left face-off dot.
"I think we need to do a better job of taking the middle away and limiting their speed through the neutral zone," Stone said. "We gave up too many chances against. They capitalized, and we didn't capitalize on ours."

Michael Raffl made it 2-0 at 6:04 of the second period, scoring on a rebound in the crease after Markstrom stopped Joel Kiviranta from in close with his left pad.
Stone cut it to 2-1 at 8:09 when he finished a pass from Johnny Gaudreau on a 3-on-1.
Mikael Backlund tied it 2-2 at 11:59 when the rebound of his one-timer deflected in off Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen one second after a power play expired.
However, Heiskanen would put Dallas back in front 3-2 at 17:32, cutting around Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk in the high slot and shooting through traffic.
"We stayed aggressive," Pavelski said when asked about holding the lead in the third period. "We still forechecked, we still wanted to get two guys in on the puck, and at the end of the day, the compete level was there. That's what was better. The compete and the urgency and those type of things."

Tyler Seguin shot into an empty net at 19:19 of the third for the 4-2 final.
"It's hard to win the last one," Lindholm said. "A lot of us haven't been past the first round, and it's something we've got to hopefully get done on Sunday. We've been a good team all year. We've got a lot of talent, a lot of character, and one of the best goalies in the league, and we have home ice."
NOTES: Stars forward Luke Glendening left the game at 3:53 of the second period after taking a hit from Flames defenseman Nikita Zadorov. Bowness said Glendening was placed in concussion protocol as a result of the hit, but ultimately a lower-body injury was what prevented him from returning after he cleared protocol. ... Flames defenseman Chris Tanev left the game at 13:36 of the second period. Sutter did not have an update on his status after the game.