Mikko Rantanen scored and Georgiev made 36 saves for the Avalanche, who were the third seed in the Central.
“It was exhausting, there’s no doubt about it,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “You can see our energy level drop as the periods go on, but our guys played hard. They played hard every shift and defended hard.
“They are a really good team. They are disciplined. They are deep. They have great goaltending and are well coached. They have everything you could ask for in a team. They are a contender in my book. Stinks). You put so much into a season as a group and you come up short. “It’s never a good feeling.”
Rantanen gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 5:48 of the second period on the power play, launching a wrist shot over Oettinger’s shoulder from beneath the right circle.
“It’s one of those where you feel like you played well enough to win the game and force a Game 7, but it just didn’t happen,” Zach Parise said. “I’m just a little surprised when it all ends like that suddenly. It takes some time to process everything, but it’s a tough way to end.”
Benn tied it 1-1 at 1:56 of the third. He took a behind-the-back pass from Evgenii Dadonov in stride and beat Georgiev before scoring with a backhand into the open net.
“We’ve played with the lead a lot in this series, and then we were tested a little bit by being down,” Pavelski said. “I think in the second period we weren’t very good and we were a little stubborn in terms of putting pucks in and how we needed to create. I think in the third and overtime we were committed to doing it the right way. And we tie this play into our forecheck, creating some time in the O zone.
“Just a great play by (Tyler Seguin) and (Dadonov) and (Benn) to get us that one. It was a simple chip that powered the medium. (Dadonov) makes a great play and (Benn) finishes it. That was a big turning point for us. “You could feel everyone’s legs.”
GRADES: Duchene became the fourth player in Stars/Minnesota North Stars history to score the series-clinching goal in a game that required multiple overtimes, joining Brenden Morrow (fourth overtime in Game 6 of the AL Semifinal). 2008 Western Conference against the San Jose Sharks). Brett Hull (third overtime in Game 6 of the 1999 Stanley Cup Final at the Buffalo Sabres) and Joe Nieuwendyk (third overtime in Game 4 of the 1999 Western Conference Quarterfinals at Edmonton). …. DeBoer earned his 17th win in the series, tying for second among active head coaches. Only Jon Cooper (18) has more.
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