Get on your feet Av’s faithful, we got a game seven on our hands. After being shut down in game five on the road, suffering a 6-2 loss in Dallas, the Avs were on the brink of elimination now trailing the series 3-2. Now coming back to Ball Arena for game six, Colorado needed all hands on deck if they wanted to live to see another day. Cale Makar had been quiet all series long, being unable to notch a goal coming into this game, but game six would be the time for Makar to show out and put up a masterclass of a performance, recording two assists and an empty net goal to seal the deal on the win.

Avs coach Jared Bednar talked about feeling the pressure of the moment coming home to play a closeout game, and he was aware of the moment they were coming into, and was adamant in saying that pressure was something that teams had to earn, and that it sometimes is the thing that brings out the best in a team.

Colorado got the scoring going first in game six, after a rush chance along the wing found its way over to Valeri Nichushkin, who sent a shot off the skate of a Dallas defender and caught Jake Oettinger completely off guard to put the Avs up 1-0. Nichushkin finished the game with two big goals en route to the win, and has been a major factor all series long with being able to out muscle opponents with his big frame, and silky smooth touch on the puck.

The Avalanche doubled their lead late in the first period, after the puck came out to the slot in the Dallas zone onto the stick of Gabe Landeskog. Landy fanned on the shot but the puck slid along the ice all the way to the far post where Artturi Lekhonen would be waiting to tap it in and put Colorado up 2-0 heading into intermission.

The Stars came out of the break quickly getting on the board, with Roope Hintz receiving a nasty no-look pass from Mikko Rantanen, burying the shot to put the Stars back to within one. Only a couple of minutes later, Dallas would find an equalizer, after a puck battle along the wall turned into a breakout pass from Hintz to Mikael Granlund who buried it top shelf over Mackenzie Blackwood to bring the game back to even at 2-2.

The middle part of the second period was back and forth after the Stars had tied it, Martin Necas buried a goal to put the Avs back in front, only for Roope Hintz to score his second of the game a few minutes later and tie it once again. In the dying minutes of the period, the puck was dumped deep into the Colorado zone, and after a scrum against the wall denied the puck from exiting, a pass was sent to a cutting Mikko Rantanen, who buried the shot with all the space in the world to put the Stars in front 4-3 in front of his old team’s crowd.

With two periods gone and only 20 minutes left, the Avs must have really been feeling the pressure their coach was talking about. But like how diamonds are made under pressure, good teams under pressure turn into absolute machines, and that’s exactly what happened to the Avalanche in the third. Around six minutes into the final period of regulation, Valeri Nichushkin would find that second goal of the game after being in the exact right spot to cash in on a rebound to level the game at 4-4.

Colorado took the lead in one of the most unusual ways possible, especially for a playoff game. Nathan Mackinnon would drive into the zone and put a low shot on net that would be stopped by the pads of Jake Oettinger. Dallas attempted to clear the puck out of the zone, but Sam Steel would put the puck right of the shoulder of Colin Blackwell that would end up in the back of the net for an own goal. The goal was attributed to Mackinnon ad after being asked what he made of the goal, Mackinnon said the goal was “super lucky” and he hoped that more of those lucky bounces would be in favor for the Avs on Saturday in game seven.

Colorado would seal the deal with a pair of empty net goals, one from Josh Manson, and another from Cale Makar to end the game with a 7-4 win. Colorado put up over 50 shots in the game, and was the better team for two out of the three periods, which was just enough for them to get the win and force a do or die game seven in Dallas.

The matchup will a sight to witness, Stars head coach Pete Deboer is 8-0 in game sevens in his career, while Jared Bednar is 0-3. Regardless, the Dallas crowd in American Airlines will be electric, and both teams will be leaving everything out on the ice on Saturday. When previewing this series before game one, I ended saying that this matchup could easily need all seven games to decide a winner, and it turned out I was quite right, now time will only tell if my prediction of the series winner will also be correct. Until the final whistle, Avs Faithful in 7.