Cam Fowler established a franchise mark for points in a series by a defenseman as the Blues extended their home winning streak to 15 games dating to Feb. 23 to force the first-ever Game 7 in Winnipeg.
* Game 7 between Dallas and Colorado takes center stage tonight as the Stars look to win their third straight winner-take-all meeting versus the Avalanche, while Colorado aims to win its first Game 7 since the 2002 Conference Semifinals.
* This is the fifth straight postseason to feature multiple Game 7s in the opening round, the second-longest stretch in NHL history behind a nine-year run from 2008 to 2016.
* The 2025 NHL Draft Lottery on Monday, May 5 will, for the first time in its 30-year history, feature the drawing live in-studio. The event will be broadcast live on ESPN, Sportsnet and TVA Sports at 7 p.m. ET.
BLUES FORCE FIRST-EVER GAME 7 IN WINNIPEG
A pair of defensemen led the charge in Game 6 as Philip Broberg (1-1—2) and Cam Fowler (1-0—1) helped the Blues earn their 15th straight win at Enterprise Center dating to Feb. 23 and force a winner-take-all showdown against the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Jets. This marks the fifth straight year under the Wild Card format that at least one First Round Game 7 will include a Wild Card team.
* WATCH HERE for full highlights from Jets–Blues Game 6.
* Fowler boosted his 2025 First Round totals to 2-8—10 (6 GP) and became the first Blues defenseman to record 10 points in a single series. The last St. Louis skater to hit the mark was Doug Weight (5-8—13) in the 2003 Conference Quarterfinals.
* Broberg became the third Blues blueliner in the past 25 years to post multiple points in a game when facing elimination. The others: Nick Leddy (0-3—3 in Game 5 of 2022 R2) and Alex Pietrangelo (1-1—2 in Game 7 of 2019 SCF).
* The Blues have won four consecutive Game 7s and can become the fifth team in NHL history to win at least five straight, following a foursome that all claimed six in a row: Carolina (2006-2022), NY Rangers (2012-2015), Boston (1983-1994) and Detroit (1949-1964). Meanwhile, the Jets will host their first-ever Game 7 in Winnipeg after winning their only Game 7 to date in the 2018 Second Round (5-1 W at NSH).
* The Blues will seek to become the fifth straight team to win a Game 7 against the Presidents’ Trophy winners – a list that includes the Jets (FLA in 2023 R1 at BOS, WPG in 2018 R2 at NSH, PIT in 2017 R2 at WSH & TBL in 2015 CF at NYR) – with opposing teams holding a 7-3 record in Game 7s against the League’s top team over the past 20 years. Overall, teams are 11-14 in 25 Game 7s against the Presidents’ Trophy winners, including a 3-4 mark in the opening round (wins by FLA in 2023, MTL in 2010 & SJS in 2000).
* Click here for more #NHLStats you need to know about Game 7 between the Blues and Jets.
2025 NHL DRAFT LOTTERY TO FEATURE LIVE DRAW FOR THE FIRST TIME
The NHL announced today that the broadcast of the 2025 NHL Draft Lottery on Monday, May 5 will, for the first time in its 30-year history, feature the drawing live in-studio, allowing viewers to follow along and learn the results at the same time as the Draft Lottery participants. It will be conducted at NHL Network’s Secaucus, N.J., studio, with the event broadcast live on ESPN, Sportsnet and TVA Sports at 7 p.m. ET, and will determine the order of selection for the first 16 picks in the first round of the 2025 Upper Deck NHL Draft.
QUICK CLICKS
* #NHLStats: Live Updates from Friday
* 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs Second Round Begins Monday
* Rangers hire Mike Sullivan as head coach
* Panthers set to see familiar faces on Maple Leafs in East 2nd Round
* Finalists named for Lady Byng Trophy, Selke Trophy, Jack Adams Award and Masterton Trophy
AVALANCHE, STARS PUT IT ALL ON THE LINE IN GAME 7
The Stars (50-26-6, 106 points) and Avalanche (49-29-4, 102 points), who were separated by one win and four standings points during the 2024-25 regular season, have both held the series lead in a thrilling First Round matchup that has averaged 6.5 goals per game and will fittingly require a seventh and deciding contest Saturday on ABC, ESPN+, Sportsnet and TVA Sports.
* NHL Release: Stars, Avalanche Face Off in Marquee Saturday Night Game 7
* #NHLStats Pack: Avalanche and Stars to Meet in Fourth Head-to-Head Game 7
* The 199th Game 7 in Stanley Cup Playoffs history will mark the fourth Game 7 between the Stars and Avalanche, the seventh head-to-head matchup in NHL history with as many Game 7 showdowns. Dallas has won each of the past three Game 7s between the clubs en route to an eventual appearance in the Stanley Cup Final (2020 R2, 2000 CF & 1999 CF).
* In the last Game 7 between these teams (2020 R2), the score was tied 1-1, 2-2, 3-3 and 4-4 before then Stars forward and current Avalanche Joel Kiviranta capped a hat trick with an overtime goal. Kiviranta became the first rookie in Stanley Cup Playoffs history to score a hat trick in a Game 7 and the first player overall to do so since Wayne Gretzky 27 years earlier in the 1993 Conference Finals. Kiviranta also joined Esa Tikkanen (1991 DSF) as the second player to score a Game 7 hat trick that included an overtime winner.
* The Stars will contest a Game 7 for the fourth consecutive postseason (2-1 over that span), just the ninth team in NHL history with a run that long and first since Anaheim’s five-year stretch from 2013 to 2017.
* Stars forward Wyatt Johnston has emerged as a clutch Game 7 performer for Dallas. In Game 7 of the 2023 Second Round, he became the youngest player in NHL history to score a Game 7-clinching goal – doing so one day after his 20th birthday on May 15, 2023. In Game 7 of the 2024 First Round against the then-defending Stanley Cup champion Golden Knights, Johnston opened the scoring in a tightly-contested 2-1 victory and became the second player in NHL history to score a goal in each of his first two Game 7s at the age of 20 or younger (also Jeremy Roenick: 1990 DSF & DF w/ CHI).
* Colorado will look to channel the Joe Sakic-era Avalanche, who guided the franchise to its last Game 7 win in the 2002 Conference Semifinals (vs. SJS). The Avalanche are looking to snap a string of six consecutive defeats in the winner-takes-all contest and to do so will need to earn their first Game 7 win on the road since the franchise’s move to Denver in 1995-96.
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* The Avalanche have been buoyed by the return of their longtime captain, Gabriel Landeskog, who re-joined the team for Game 3 of this series after missing 1,032 days due to injury as detailed by his wife, Melissa, in a recent episode of the podcast “Never Offside with Julie & Cat.’ Landeskog (1-3—4 in 4 GP) has produced at a point-per-game pace since his return.
* On Friday, Landeskog was named alongside Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury and Blue Jackets forward Sean Monahan as a finalist for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy which is awarded “to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey,”
