 as Dallas had shots (five).Bellemare ignited the offense with a tally 4:37 into the game. They scored the next four in a 2:36 span, which was the second-fastest four-goal flurry by one team in a single playoff game in NHL history. The record is 2:35 by Montreal in Game 5 during the 1944 semis against Toronto, according to the league.The game turned chippy with Colorado out to a big lead. Blake Comeau and Pavelski were sent to the locker room in the third period after misconduct penalties.With a goal and an assist Monday, MacKinnon has at a least a point in all 13 games this postseason. His 23 points (eight goals, 15 assists) is tops in this postseason.Hutchinson became the third different goaltender to start for Colorado in this series. He made his NHL playoff debut in a relief role during Game 4 on Sunday, stopping all three shots he faced.The 30-year-old Hutchinson was acquired in a February trade with Toronto. He played in one game for Colorado during the regular season -- on March 2, which happened to be his birthday. He earned a 2-1 win at Detroit.Stars interim coach Rick Bowness is making a compelling case to be the full-time coach. Not that he gives it much thought.''We tell our players to stay in the moment,'' Bowness said. ''I want our coaches to stay in the moment as well.'' NOTES: Stars D Andrej Sekera briefly left in the second period when he took a puck to the side of his head. ... Pavelski has 56 career goals in the Stanley Cup playoffs, which ranks third-most by a U. S.-born player. ... The Avalanche were without forwards Joonas Donskoi and Matt Calvert, defenseman Erik Johnson and goaltender Philipp Grubauer due to unspecified injuries. ... Hunter Miska was the backup goaltender over Francouz. ... The last time Colorado/Quebec had five goals in a period was April 19, 1982, in the second against Boston. The team was then located in Quebec.---More NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL and https://twitter.com/-Sports)
The Dallas Stars seem to subscribe to the theory that the fourth victory in a playoff series is the hardest to get.They'll have three chances to do so, beginning Monday night against the Colorado Avalanche.The Stars took a 3-1 advantage in their Western Conference second-round series with a 5-4 victory Sunday in Edmonton, Alberta. Radek Faksa had a goal and two assists for the Stars."We're a confident group and (Game 5) is going to be the hardest game," said Stars defenseman John Klingberg, who had a goal and an assist. "It always is when you can close out a series. We expect Colorado to be even better (Monday)." In their first-round series against Calgary, the Stars fell behind by three goals just 6:34 into Game 6 before rallying for a clinching 7-3 victory."We're keeping our composure," Stars forward Jamie Benn said. "We know how hard that Game 6 was against Calgary. Obviously, we didn't get off to a good start at all. We'll sit on this one for a couple hours and then move on and get right back at it (Monday)." The Stars took a 3-0 lead Sunday in the opening 10:45, including two power-play goals, before the Avalanche could even get a shot on net.Colorado pulled within 3-2 before Dallas' Roope Hintz and Denis Gurianov scored 32 seconds apart early in the third period to restore the three-goal advantage. It was Gurianov's eighth goal of the playoffs, tying the league high."They came out hard and earned their bounces. All of a sudden we're down 3-0," said Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon, who extended his points streak to 12 games. "We got better, I felt, as the game wore on. ... We had a push earlier in the third to (try and) tie it up. Obviously getting down in a hole early didn't help us." Colorado's Valeri Nichushkin scored his second goal of the game at 11:24 of the third and Vladislav Namestnikov tallied with four seconds left in regulation, but by that time it was too late."The game was a little bit closer than what the score was for part of it, we just gave them too many opportunities to capitalize," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "We've got to be better. It's a defensive improvement we have to make." Bednar pulled goaltender Pavel Francouz, playing for the injured Philipp Grubauer, after Dallas scored its fifth goal with 11:58 remaining. Michael Hutchinson made his playoff debut and stopped all three shots he faced.Dallas, which scored the fewest regular-season goals (180) of any Western Conference team to make the playoffs, has 19 through the first four games of this series."It just seems like when one team gets one goal, it kind of gives them a boost," Benn said. "I'm not sure why it's going back and forth like this, but it is. And you've just got to handle the momentum as it comes." --Field Level Media
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