With their season on the line and having just blown an early 2-0 lead, the Stars rallied to knock off the Flames in Game 6 of their Western Conference Stanley Cup Playoff series, 3-1, tying the series at 3-3 and forcing a Game 7 in Calgary.
Miro Heiskanen scored late in the second period to give the Stars the lead, and Jake Oettinger, the Stars’ 23-year-old goalie, stopped thirty-six shots on his way to victory.
Now, this series is going back to the Saddledome for a deciding Game 7 on May 15.
Joe Pavelski and the Stars have seen their fair share of elimination Game 7’s as this is the third consecutive playoff in which Dallas will face the challenge. The Stars beat Colorado in the second round of the NHL playoffs two seasons ago in a Game 7, and in 2019, Dallas was defeated in a second-round series that lasted seven against St. Louis.
Pavelski was asked if he “loves game seven” during his post-game interview.
“You might not always love getting them, but whether you’re up 3-2, down, 3-2, you never like to be going to a game seven unless you are the team with the two wins like we were tonight, so,” he said of the series continuing at 3-3. “But yeah, yeah, [game sevens] are awesome.”
Michael Raffl notched his first goal of the series following his forty-foot shot with a mob of players in front of Calgary goalie Jacob Markstrom. The score came with 2:28 left in the second period, in which both teams scored twice.
In the final minute of period two, Heiskanen scored what proved to be the game-winner. Late in the third, Tyler Seguin slapped in an empty-netter for the 4-2 final.
Markstrom had thirty-six saves in the loss for the Flames.
Calgary tied the game 2-2 with 12 minutes into the second period on a goal by Mikael Backlund, which came shortly after a Flames power-play attempt ended.
That made the Flames 0-for-2 with the man advantage in the game, while Dallas was 2-for-21 in the series in the first six games before Friday night’s third period.
The Stars’ power play finally paid off midway through the third period when Joe Pavelski’s shot slapped off Markstrom’s skate that was on the line.
The Stars had a 2-0 lead about six minutes into the second period when Joel Kiviranta tried to follow up his shot while two Calgary players and Markstrom all went down on the ice.
The puck was pushed down the ice and into Calgary’s zone before Pavelski left a drop-back pass waiting for the charging Hintz, and Hintz sent a quick shot under the legs of Markstrom for the goal.
The start time for Game 7 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs Western Conference series between the Dallas Stars and Calgary Flames is Sunday, May 15, starting at 8:30 p.m. in Calgary. The game will be televised on Bally Sports Southwest and nationally in the United States on ESPN2.
