Stars Capture Overtime Magic A...

A heroic double minor penalty kill and an ensuing Tyler Seguin overtime winner propelled the Dallas Stars to their second overtime win in a row in their first round series against the Colorado Avalanche to take a 2-1 series lead.

Almost mirroring Game 6 of last year's second round - the last playoff game at Ball Arena between these two teams - Jamie Benn got a tying goal in the third period and the line of Matt Duchene, Mason Marchment and Seguin score the overtime winner.

The Stars now have more wins in the series than minutes led.

With the series tied 1-1, the third game was crucial in deciding who had the advantage moving forward in the series. The build-up for Colorado was even bigger than usual going into their first game of the series at home with the return of Gabriel Landeskog to the lineup after multiple missed seasons due to injury.

The crowd was absolutely buzzing early, chanting "Landy" through warm-ups and the start of the game. Colorado fed off of the momentum, but Dallas countered the early surge well.

In fact, the first period was largely carried by the Stars, outshooting Colorado 16-5 but trailing 1-0 after allowing a 4-on-4 goal by Valeri Nichushkin. Nichushkin was the beneficiary of a legal-illegal pick play set by an Avalanche player in the middle of the ice, rubbing off Nichushkin's marker and leaving him all alone to deke and beat Jake Oettinger to give the Avs the lead.

The second period was another good road period for Dallas, who couldn't generate as much offense but still stymied most of Colorado's rush play and made it difficult for the Avs to leave their zone without a struggle.

Lian Bichsel took a shot to the hip area and left briefly but was able to return, while Oskar Back left the bench in the middle of the period and did not return until the third. Mikko Rantanen double shifted in his place on the fourth line until he came back.

Late in the period, Nathan MacKinnon fired a shot off of Oettinger's blocker and the Stars went the other way with Mikael Granlund receiving a perfect tape-to-tape pass from Tyler Seguin. Granlund beat goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood but not the post, and the score remained 1-0 going into the third.

Dallas needed a goal in the third period, and their second power play of the period finally brought the tying tally. Benn converted on a high tip from a Thomas Harley shot and tied the game 1-1.

It was in the midst of a stretch of three penalties in a row that could easily have been passed by in other playoff games, especially in the third period, but Dallas didn't ask twice and took advantage. Then, the Stars killed off the penalty that soon followed, keeping the game level at 1-1 through the end of the period.

With under a minute to go before the end of regulation, Mason Marchment took a double minor for high sticking that stretched into the overtime period after Dallas killed the first 40 seconds in a frantic finish to regulation.

Colorado couldn't gain any momentum for remaining three minutes and change, thanks in part to a penalty kill from the Stars that must have fired themselves up more than usual. Colin Blackwell nearly ended it for a second game in a row with a short-handed 2-on-1 but Blackwood made a key save.

Near the end of the second penalty, Esa Lindell made a game-saving block on a wide-open net for the Arturri Lehkonen, which would have easily ended the game if not for Lindell's glove getting a piece of the puck.

The penalty was killed and Dallas did not take long to end the overtime with the momentum they gained. Rantanen made a strong play to get the puck out of the zone and up to Marchment, who fended off a body to spin and find Seguin, who out-muscled Cale Makar and flipped a shot short-side on Blackwood, giving Dallas the 2-1 overtime win.

The teams now have two days off before resuming play Saturday night at 8:30 CDT.