Saturday, May 3, 2025 – 8 p.m. ET on ABC, ESPN+, SN, TVAS

Game 7 History

* This will be the 199th Game 7 in Stanley Cup Playoffs history and first of these playoffs.

* There has been at least one Game 7 in the first best-of-seven round in 21 of the past 23 postseasons (including 2025). There were multiple Game 7s in the First Roud each year from 2021 to 2024.

* There have been at least four Game 7s in each of the past three playoff years (4 in 2024, 4 in 2023, 6 in 2022), the longest stretch since an eight-year span from 2009 to 2016.

* Eleven of 14 Game 7s since 2022 have been decided by a one-goal margin, including each of the past five.

* Two of the past five Stanley Cup champions required a Game 7 win along the way: Florida in the Final last year and Tampa Bay in the 2021 Stanley Cup Semifinals.

Game 7 History – Dallas and Colorado

* The Stars/North Stars franchise is set to compete in its 18th all-time Game 7 (8-9 in 17 GP) which will match the Blues (10-8 in 18 GP) and Penguins (10-8 in 18 GP) for the most of any non-Original Six franchise. This will be the Stars’ 11th Game 7 since relocating to Texas in 1993-94 (5-5 in 10 GP, including 4-2 at home).

* The Avalanche/Nordiques franchise is set to compete in its 17th all-time Game 7 (6-10). This will be the Avalanche’s 14th Game 7 since relocating to Denver in 1995-96 (4-9, including 0-4 on the road).

* This will be 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 three prior Game 7s between these clubs, each on a path 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. Kiviranta leads all players in this series in Game 7 goals (3-0—3 in 3 GP).

* Both teams have had each of their past five Game 7s decided by a one-goal margin. Dallas is 3-2 during that stretch, including wins in each of their past two and three straight in overtime before that (including the last multi-overtime Game 7 in the NHL: 2019 R2). Colorado is 0-5 over their span, also with three decided in overtime.

* Dallas will compete in a Game 7 for the fourth consecutive postseason (also 2024 R1, 2023 R2 & 2022 R1), the ninth different team in NHL history to do so and first since Anaheim in five straight years from 2013 to 2017.

* Colorado has not won a Game 7 since the 2002 Conference Semifinals (vs. SJS), a string of six consecutive defeats in the winner-take-all contest that sits tied for the longest stretch of Game 7 defeats in Stanley Cup Playoffs history (tied with OTT and TOR, both active streaks).

* Colorado has never won a road Game 7, with the franchise’s only such victories coming as the Nordiques. The longest spans of consecutive road Game 7s without a win at any point: Toronto (0-7; active), Ottawa (0-5; active), Buffalo (0-5; active), Colorado/Quebec (0-5; active), NY Rangers (0-5) and St. Louis (0-5).

Players and Head Coaches in Game 7s
* Forty one players in this series have played in a Game 7 during the Stanley Cup Playoffs (DAL: 21; COL: 20), for a total of 109 appearances in Game 7s (DAL: 63; COL: 46).

* Twenty players on these rosters skated in their club’s most recent Game 7 (DAL: 13; COL: 7).

* Stars forward Tyler Seguin (6-3) and Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon (0-4) both made their Game 7 debut as teenagers, Seguin at age 19 in the 2011 Conference Finals (and then again in the ensuing Stanley Cup Final) and MacKinnon in the 2014 First Round (when he became the youngest skater ever to play in a Game 7, at age 18 years, 241 days). Only four teenagers have played in a Game 7 since MacKinnon’s debut in 2014, with Miro Heiskanen one of the last to do so (along with Robert Thomas in the 2019 R2 when DAL faced STL).

* In Game 7 of the 2023 Second Round, Wyatt Johnston 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.

* Jake Oettinger (2-1 in 3 GP/GS) is set to become the first goaltender to appear in/start four Game 7s for the Stars/North Stars franchise, surpassing Cesare Maniago (1-2 in 3 GP/GS). Oettinger is tied with Ed Belfour (2-0 in 2 GP) for the most Game 7 wins by a goaltender in franchise history. Only two active goaltenders (min. 1 GP in 2024-25) have three or more Game 7 wins to their credit (Jonathan Quick and Marc-Andre Fleury, both w/ 4).

* Jake Oettinger’s only Game 7 defeat was a 64-save effort at Calgary in the 2022 First Round, the second time in NHL history that a goaltender had at least 60 saves in a Game 7.

* Stars head coach Peter DeBoer (8-0) can set a new NHL record for career Game 7 wins. DeBoer is currently tied with seven skaters and head coach Darryl Sutter (8-3) for the most all-time. DeBoer (8-0) and former Stars forward Brad Richards (8-0) are the only skater, goaltender or head coach in League history to win each of their first eight career Game 7s.

* Find career Game 7 statistics for all current players and head coaches in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs Interactive Information Guide (Dallas: page 93; Colorado: page 101).

Game 7 Trends and Records.NHL.com Links

* The team that scores first is 150-48 (.758) in the 198 all-time Game 7s (3-1 in 2024).

* Home teams own a 116-82 (.586) advantage in the 198 all-time Game 7s (3-1 in 2024).

* 103 of the 198 all-time Game 7s (52.0%) have been decided by a one-goal margin, including all four in 2024.

* 49 Game 7s have required overtime (24.7%). Home teams have a 26-23 edge in those contests (1-0 in 2024).

* A team has overcome a deficit to win in 60 of the 198 all-time Game 7s (30.3%), including 13 multi-goal comeback wins. The maximum deficit a winning team has faced in a Game 7 is three goals (SJS in 2019 R1, BOS in 2013 CQF, PHI in 2010 CSF, EDM in 1991 DSF & WSH in 1988 DSF). A team has won a Game 7 after trailing in the third period 25 times, including three multi-goal third-period comeback victories (SJS in 2019 R1, BOS in 2013 CQF & MTL in 1979 SF).

* There have been 36 all-time shutouts in Game 7s, 24 by the home team and 12 by the road team.