On Thursday night, the Dallas Stars took on the Calgary Flames in game six of the first round of the NHL playoffs. The Stars came into the game needing to win only one more game to advance to the next round. The stars have had trouble as of late on the powerplay and short-handed situations.

The Stars started off slow, falling behind quickly 3-1 with Calgary scoring 3 goals in six minutes. The Stars young defensemen Miro Heiskanen would score the Stars’ first goal of the night, and from then on, the Stars did not look back. Denis Gurianov would give the Stars the first of his four goals at the start of the second period scoring 59 seconds into the second period. Gurianov would strike again only two minutes later, scoring his second goal of the night. The Stars would then take advantage of a power play when former first-round pick Radek Faksa scored the Stars fourth goal and took the lead from Calgary. The Stars were definitely not finished as Joe Pavelski would score again only a minute after the Stars had just taken the lead. Gurianov would put the icing on the cake scoring his third goal 15 minutes into the second period, and then, score his fourth and final goal in the third period on a breakaway down the ice. The Stars wouldn’t allow after Calgary’s quick start in the first period take the series in dominant fashion.

The Stars will now play the Colorado Avalanche in round two of the playoffs that will start next week. This matchup favors the Stars better than the Blues or Vancouver because the Stars played better against the Avalanche during the season before the cancellation of the season winning the four game series. If the Stars can play as they did on Thursday, they will be a favorite to win the Stanley Cup.