The Stars douse the Avalanche

Rantanen's shootout goal leaves Colorado's candle cold

Two champions, one candle

Qualification night put two past Gauntlet holders on the same ice at Ball Arena in Denver. The Dallas Stars shared the Gauntlet in 2024-25. The Colorado Avalanche shared it in 2023-24, the same run in which they beat the Stars 5-4 in the quarterfinals. Only one of these flames would survive the first night. By the end, 19 candles still burned, and Colorado's was not one of them.

Trading leads all night

Thomas Harley, a defenseman, opened the scoring with a slap shot at 18:51 of the 1st. Colorado answered twice in the 2nd: Martin Necas with a wrist shot at 3:54 and Gavin Brindley with a snap shot at 10:07. Between those goals, Justin Hryckowian and Ross Colton dropped the gloves. Then Dallas came back. Nathan Bastian tied it at 15:22, and Jason Robertson tipped in the lead at 18:25.

Artturi Lehkonen tied it again 34 seconds into the 3rd. Wyatt Johnston restored the lead unassisted at 1:58. Then Ilya Lyubushkin took a high-sticking double minor, and Nathan MacKinnon made it 4-4 with a power-play snap shot at 10:46.

Rantanen seals it

The Avalanche outshot Dallas 39 to 22, and Jake Oettinger stopped 35 of those shots. In the shootout Robertson scored first, and Valeri Nichushkin matched him. Mikko Rantanen then scored the deciding attempt. MacKinnon missed his reply, and the Avalanche flame went dark. The Stars burn on.