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<\/p>\nLike Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez, the Colorado Avalanche and the Dallas Stars just bring the best out of one another.<\/p>\n
On a night that began with blockbuster news, the Colorado Avalanche followed it up with an unforgettable comeback.<\/p>\n
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Hours after pulling off a stunning last-second trade to bring back Nazem Kadri just before the deadline, Colorado erased a four-goal deficit to defeat the Dallas Stars 5\u20134 in a shootout Friday night at American Airlines Center.<\/p>\n
Dallas came out flying, scoring four times in the opening 22 minutes to seize full control early. But the Avalanche gradually clawed their way back, chipping away at the deficit before forcing extra time in dramatic fashion.<\/p>\n
With Colorado\u2019s net empty and the extra attacker on the ice, Valeri Nichushkin buried the equalizer with just 13.2 seconds remaining in regulation, tying the game 4\u20134 and stunning the home crowd. The goal was Nichushkin\u2019s 13th of the season and only his second since recording a hat trick on New Year\u2019s Eve.<\/p>\n
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From there, the Avalanche completed the comeback in the shootout to secure the victory.<\/p>\n
Martin Ne\u010das led the charge offensively with a dominant four-point performance, while Nathan MacKinnon added a goal and two assists. The win pushes Colorado seven points ahead of Dallas atop the NHL standings, with the Avalanche also holding a game in hand.<\/p>\n
Mackenzie Blackwood gave up four goals on 11 shots and was replaced by Scott Wedgewood, who shut out the Stars the rest of the way with 10 saves.<\/p>\n
Dallas saw goals from Wyatt Johnston, Jamie Benn, Miro Heiskanen, and Justin Hrycokowian. Jake Oettinger made 25 saves.<\/p>\n
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The Avalanche earned an early power play when Oskar Back was called for holding Zakhar Bardakov. Dallas nearly flipped the momentum with a dangerous shorthanded rush, but Colorado managed to break it up before it developed into a real scoring chance.<\/p>\n
For the third straight game, Colorado\u2019s power play delivered. Nathan MacKinnon threaded a perfect cross-ice pass to Cale Makar, who ripped a laser top shelf past Jake Oettinger to give the Avalanche a 1\u20130 lead.<\/p>\n
Nearly six minutes into the period, the Avalanche found themselves shorthanded when Jack Drury was called for holding Dallas forward Nathan Bastian. The Stars took advantage of the opportunity as Miro Heiskanen fired a shot from the point that deflected off Devon Toews and past Mackenzie Blackwood, tying the game at 1\u20131.<\/p>\n
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Just over three minutes later, Dallas struck again. Wyatt Johnston took a pass from Heiskanen behind the net, circled into the slot, stickhandled through traffic, and snapped a wrist shot past Blackwood\u2019s glove side to give the Stars a 2\u20131 lead.<\/p>\n
The mistakes continued to pile up for Colorado soon after. A miscommunication between Blackwood and Toews proved costly when Blackwood left his crease to play the puck, lost his stick, and was caught out of position. Mavrik Bourque quickly found Hryckowian in the slot, who buried the puck into a wide-open net to extend Dallas\u2019 lead to 3\u20131.<\/p>\n
Hryckowian was sent to the penalty box moments later for high-sticking Makar, but the Avalanche were unable to capitalize despite generating several quality chances. Devon Toews nearly cut the deficit with a booming one-timer, but Oettinger came up with a strong stop to keep the Stars ahead.<\/p>\n
Dallas took another penalty late in the period when Bourque delivered a late hit on Nic Roy, who was acquired in a trade on Thursday, along the boards with just 13.7 seconds remaining. The play was ruled interference, giving Colorado one more power-play opportunity before the intermission.<\/p>\n
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The Avalanche made it count.<\/p>\n
With 1.9 seconds to go in the period, MacKinnon hammered a one-timer from the top of the left circle off a slick feed from Martin Necas, beating Oettinger cleanly to pull Colorado back within one. The goal marked Colorado\u2019s second power-play tally of the period, as the Avalanche finished the frame 2-for-3 with the man advantage.<\/p>\n
After 20 minutes, the Avalanche trailed 3\u20132 despite holding a slight 11\u20139 edge in shots on goal.<\/p>\n
It took less than two minutes for Dallas to score in the following period. After Josh Manson was checked into the boards by Hryckowian and lost the puck behind the net, Hryckowian found Jamie Benn in the slot and Benn toe-dragged and slid the puck by Blackwood to make it a 4-2 game. After giving up four goals on 11 shots, Blackwood was replaced in net by former Star Scott Wedgewood.<\/p>\n
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Wedgewood was met immediately with fire, and he responded with fire as he went post to post making highlight-reel saves.<\/p>\n
But the Avs would get one back when Gabe Landeskog shook off a pair of Stars defenders to get the puck to Nathan MacKinnon, who found Ne\u010das. He snapped a top shelf shot past Oettinger, who thought Ne\u010das was going far side blocker but was completely fooled, making it a 4\u20133 game.<\/p>\n
Stars forward Roope Hintz suffered what appeared to be a lower-body injury late in the period after getting tied up with MacKinnon and the latter chucked him down to the ice. No penalty was called on the play, but Colorado would get penalized late in the period when Manson was called for cross-checking.<\/p>\n
Colorado spent the first portion of the third killing off Manson’s penalty, but the PK unit got the job done.<\/p>\n
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Just over five minutes into the period, the Stars were awarded another man advantage when Brett Kulak high-sticked Matt Duchene while battling for a puck behind the net.<\/p>\n
With the Avs\u2019 net empty, Nichushkin delivered in the clutch. Stationed in the right circle, Nichushkin snapped a wrist shot past Oettinger to even the score and send the game to overtime.<\/p>\n
It continued a trend for the Avalanche winger, as six of his 13 goals this season have now come in the third period.<\/p>\n
Overtime couldn\u2019t produce a winner, sending the contest to a shootout, where Valeri Nichushkin showed that his late third-period heroics were no accident. He scored in the shootout, joined by Martin Ne\u010das, helping the Avalanche edge closer to victory. The shootout extended into the second round, but Jonas Wedgewood stood tall, stopping attempts from Jason Robertson and Matt Duchene to clinch the win.<\/p>\n
The Avalanche (42\u201310\u20139) earned a key Central Division win and will return to Ball Arena on Sunday to take on the Minnesota Wild (36\u201316\u201310) led by star forward Kirill Kaprizov. Puck drop is scheduled for 12 p.m. local time.<\/p>\n
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