DALLAS – The Dallas Stars began their offseason activity after losing in the Stanley Cup Final by bringing back a reliable defender. Dallas re-signed veteran defenseman Andrej Sekera to a $3 million, two-year contract Sunday that carries an annual salary cap hit of $1.5 million. The 34-year-old Slovak blocked 38 shots and had one assist in the postseason while playing third-pairing minutes for the Western Conference-champion Stars. Sekera had eight points and blocked 75 shots in 57 regular-season games during his first year with Dallas. The 6-foot, 195-pound defender has appeared in 764 regular-season NHL games over parts of 14 seasons with Buffalo, Carolina, Los Angeles, Edmonton and Dallas.

This is a Stanley Cup matchup for all of those who like their games to be a bit defensive. “In today’s NHL you need that for your team to be successful,” Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh said Friday. “We're not surprised,” Stars defenseman John Klingberg said. ... He’s doing it all right now.”The Stars signed 14-year veteran Andrej Sekera as a free agent last summer, and he is finally in his first Stanley Cup Final with his fifth team. “Everyone is obviously very hungry to go all of the way,” said Hedman, part of Tampa Bay's loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup Final five years ago.

Kiviranta was playing only his third postseason game, with Andrew Cogliano unfit to play, after scoring once in 11 regular-season games. There had never been an NHL Game 7 played at a neutral site before the two games. The series was back and forth, starting from Game 1 and tonight the game itself was no different. The Stars beat the Avs in the Western Conference finals in 1999 and 2000 to make it to the Stanley Cup final. His sixth power play goal matched Joe Sakic (1996) for the second-most in an Avalanche postseason behind Michel Goulets seven in 1985.