Mikko Rantanen, Stars rebound in big way, chase Mackenzie Blackwood en route to Game 5 win

DALLAS Just when Nathan MacKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche cracked the door open for a probable comeback Monday night the Dallas Stars slammed it shut And now the Avs are back in the same spot they were a year ago staring at elimination with Competition awaiting at Ball Arena Wyatt Johnston scored his first two goals of the series and old friend Mikko Rantanen added a goal and two assists as the Stars rebounded from their worst contest with their best a - win in Competition at American Airlines Center Dallas now leads the series - and has the first of two opportunities to knock Colorado out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the third time in six seasons Thursday night back in Denver Obviously we put ourselves in a little bit of a hole Avs captain Gabe Landeskog explained Started scratching and clawing our way back into it I thought we were starting to play really well Then a couple calls goes against us and we make a couple of bad decisions give up various odd-man rushes and stuff So several of those are self-inflicted tonight Short memory Learn from it Move on It looked like one of those nights for the Avs after the Stars built a - lead just into the second period but the top line dragged Colorado back into the fight Goals by Artturi Lehkonen and MacKinnon just apart left the Avalanche down one goal with remaining in the second A costly penalty by defenseman Sam Malinski led to a power-play goal and by the second intermission Dallas had regained its three-goal advantage Devon Toews stick broke during the ensuing penalty kill and the Stars took full advantage with Johnston s second goal of the night You got to play the challenge the way it is Avs coach Jared Bednar explained We made specific mistakes I just don t love that call that puck s getting passed to the slot and Sam s in a position where he s got to play the guy and he tries to jump by him It s a tough call when you look at specific of the physicality that s going on at and away from the puck on us to get that interference call Mason Marchment added another with left in the period getting his stick on a knuckling shot from the right point and deflecting it past Blackwood The Avs were not happy with several calls both made and not in this meeting The Malinski penalty was clearly a turning point Later Josh Manson was upset when he felt Stars captain Jamie Benn skated into his stick but he was called for high-sticking Parker Kelly was also tackled trying to get to a rebound at the edge of the crease but no penalty was assessed Couple of those are preseason calls but regardless we ve got to fight through it and keep playing Landeskog noted And we weren t able to get the kill unfortunately Scott Wedgewood replaced Blackwood to start the third period after the latter allowed five goals on shots in the first minutes Blackwood entered the day leading the playoffs in save percentage and second in goals against average The Avalanche allowed the two quirkiest goals of the series to dig its first two-goal deficit of the series in the opening period Stars defenseman Cody Ceci attempted a simple dump-in after Dallas won the opening faceoff of the battle but the puck hit Evgenii Dadonov s skate and went high in the air For a brief moment the only skater on the ice who knew where it was going into the corner to the left of Blackwood was Johnston He got a headstart on tracking it down fired it at the net from an awkward angle and it went off the Avalanche goalie and into the net to give Dallas the lead just nine seconds into this contest The rest of the first period was a perfectly solid road showing for the visitors Colorado created a bunch of quality looks Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger was sharp in net Related Articles Avalanche-Stars Contest slapshots Jamie Benn s diving was embarrassment to Stanley Cup NHL After dominant Contest has Avalanche at last unlocked how to beat Stars Keeler Avalanche s Logan O Connor sent Dallas Stars a message for Battle We re not going to back down Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog continues to defy expectations It s crazy honestly Avalanche-Stars Encounter slapshots Gabe Landeskog scores to add to remarkable comeback story Rantanen scored his first career playoff goal not in a Colorado uniform just into the second period Colorado s second line had a strong shift creating multiple chances in the Dallas end but the Stars counter-attacked well creating a -on- Roope Hintz was able to get the puck through to Rantanen who buried the one-timer We weren t great on the defensive side of things Particular decision making Bednar revealed I just thought first period not sharp enough on the defensive side of things But a couple strange goals in there that you re trying to dig out from so there has to be an element of threat in your competition I still think there s selected good things that we did on the offensive side of things and we got to get back to that championship we played the other night They took care of their home ice and now we got to go take care of ours Dallas coach Peter DeBoer challenged his top players through the media the morning of Tournament The Stars stars responded in emphatic fashion Now just as they did leading into Challenge the Avs have an extra day off to reset after a loss That was Colorado s best match of the series The Avs have not defeated the Stars in back-to-back playoff contests since Games and in That is now their only path forward that doesn t include another early postseason exit and a long summer of hard questions You can t have guys having bad nights this time of the year Bednar reported You ve heard me say it all along it s going to come down to playing good teams that finish in similar spots in the standings so you ve got to go play your best hockey for two weeks in order to win right If you ve got good players having bad nights it s not your best hockey If you re firing on all cylinders the other night like Meeting and Challenge things start to look a lot better Want more Avalanche news Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis