NHL Series: Matt Duchene recovered in 2nd overtime; Dallas is in the Western Conference final

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Matt Duchene scored a goal in the second overtime period after being directly involved in the sequence that led to a disallowed goal in the first overtime period on Friday to give the Stars a 2-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche and send Dallas to the Western Conference final. The second year in a row.

Spread out to the left of Alexandar Georgiev during a rally in front of the Avalanche net, Duchene pounced on a loose puck to give the Stars a six-game winning streak.

The Avalanche were trying to force a seventh game after trailing 3-1 for the second time in their history. The first time came in the second round of 2020 against these same stars, who then won the final duel.

The Stars thought they had reached the quarterfinals earlier, when Mason Marchment pulled the strings in the first overtime period.

However, his goal was controversially disallowed as Duchene was adjudged to have made contact with Georgiev in his semicircle. Video replay showed Duchene's skates were outside the semicircle before Cale Makar caused the bulk of the contact by pushing the Stars forward against his goalie, but the on-ice referee's decision to disallow the goal was upheld.

It was only a postponement. Jake Oettinger was great in keeping the tie alive and giving Duchene the opportunity to close the loop with his all-important second goal of the playoffs at 11:42 in the second overtime period.

Ottinger stopped 29 shots in the game. Despite the relatively low number of shots directed at him in the match that ended in the second overtime, he made several important saves. He notably stymied Artturi Lehkonen twice on close shots during each overtime period.

Mikko Rantanen and Jimmy Benn exchanged goals in regulation time.

Rantanen took advantage of his team's only power play of the game to open the scoring at 5:48 in the second period. With Duchene in the box for a double check, he put the ball into the top of the net after passes from Jonathan Drouin and Makar.

Penn tied the game with a backhander after a beautiful pass from Evgeny Dadonov on a turnaround in transition play 1:56 into the third period.

Georgiev made 36 saves in the loss.

In the Western Conference final, the Stars will face the winners of the all-Canadian series between the Edmonton Oilers and Canucks, with Vancouver leading 3-2.

The Stars were without Roope Hintz for the second straight game with an upper-body injury.