Alexander Georgiev kept Colorado alive before Matt Duchene delivered knockout

Instant reaction from the Avalanche’s 2-1 loss against Dallas in Game 6 of their second-round Stanley Cup Playoffs series.

Georgie’s finest. Fistfights aren’t pretty. They sometimes require just hanging tough. With the season hanging in the balance, Alexandar Georgiev patrolled the crease with little room for error. Colorado’s high-flying offense found itself in a grinder. This wasn’t a night when the big fellas could easily cover up a softie.

Jaime Benn stormed down the center, in behind Cale Makar, and took a perfect pass to level the game at one early in the third period. Otherwise, Georgiev was on his toes from the start. He fended off a second-period flurry. He didn’t put the puck in harm’s way often. He added to the highlight reel. He ignited the Ball Arena crowd in several rounds of “Georgie, Georgie” chants. He survived an overtime review of a Dallas winner waved off due to contact in the crease. He stopped 10 shots in the first overtime and laid to stop a Matt Duchene walk-in attempt early in the second.

He gave the Avs every chance to claw some way, somehow to the finish. They just couldn’t. Duchene finally punched the Stars’ ticket and knocked out Colorado 11:42 into the second overtime.

On the outs. Just like that, it’s lights out on the Avalanche. A few weeks from now there will be two Stanley Cup champions between the 2022 team and the now. The division was hotly contested the whole year. Dallas is a worthy Western Conference Final entrant. And yet this will feel like a what-could-have-been for Jared Bednar’s team. What if Valeri Nichushkin hadn’t been suspended for six months right before Game 4? What if the Avs hadn’t fallen behind 3-1 in this series? What if Jonathan Drouin converted a near goal early in the first overtime on a find from Nathan MacKinnon? Or Arturi Lehkonen in the final minute of the first overtime.

It’s hard to win a Cup even in the best of circumstances. Now it’s tee times and beaches instead of Vancouver or Edmonton.

Second chances. The Stars won late in the first overtime. Then they didn’t. Then they maybe should have, but still didn’t.

Mason Marchment ripped a shot cleanly past Georgiev to send the Stars through to the Western Conference Final. Except an official adamantly waved off the goal immediately, saying Georgiev had been contacted by a Dallas player in the crease.

Duchene won the faceoff and dove to the net, mixing it up with Makar in front of Georgiev. The contact was light and most of it came after Makar appeared to push Duchene into Georgiev.