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Ryan S. Clark, NHL reporterMay 18, 2024, 02:26 AM ET
CloseRyan S. Clark is an NHL reporter for ESPN.
Matt Duchene’s heroics Friday put his current team in the Western Conference finals at the expense of the team that drafted him more than a decade ago.
An unmarked Duchene flicked his wrists, and in less than a second scored the winning goal that sent the Dallas Stars to a 2-1 double-overtime win in Game 6 against the Colorado Avalanche to close out their semifinal series.
“Those guys mucked hard at the end, and it just popped out to me,” Duchene told Turner Sports after the game. “I put it in and then blacked out pretty much. I was so tired, I started skating and I got tired, and I don’t even know what I did after that. I was pretty pumped up.”
Duchene’s goal and the events that led to it came with several moving parts.
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Most notably, it sends the Stars back to the Western Conference final for a second straight season and for the third time in the past five years. They will face either the Vancouver Canucks or the Edmonton Oilers. The Canucks have a 3-2 series lead and could end the series Saturday in Edmonton, or the Oilers could force a Game 7 set for Monday in Vancouver.
In last season’s conference final, the Stars lost in six games to the eventual champions, the Vegas Golden Knights.
The goal also came after some controversy in the first extra period, when Duchene was involved in a Mason Marchment goal that was called back because of goaltender interference.
With 7:29 remaining in the first overtime, Duchene was battling with Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar for position in front of Avs goaltender Alexandar Georgiev. Marchment fired a shot on net that beat Georgiev. However, the goal was reviewed, with Duchene appearing to have impeded Georgiev in the crease while contacting Makar.
The NHL Situation Room, which is charged with reviewing goals, determined that Duchene impaired Georgiev’s “ability to play his position in the crease prior to the puck…
Source link : https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/40169110/matt-duchene-wins-2ot-send-stars-western-conference-finals
Author : Ryan Clark
Publish date : 2024-05-18 09:30:12
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