You the hockey fan were gifted not one, but two Game 7's on Friday. One went to overtime, while the other one nearly made it there.

Dallas 5, Colorado 4 OT (Dallas wins series 4-3)

You've heard of Cinderella teams… what about Cinderella players? Meet Joel Kiviranta.

Kiviranta's insertion into the Dallas lineup as an injury replacement for Andrew Cogliano didn't generate a ton of buzz before the game. Yet all he managed to do was put together a performance for the ages. First, a second-period goal to tie the game at 2. Then, a game-tying goal just 10 seconds after the Avalanche took the lead with less than four minutes in regulation. Then, the overtime winner for the hat trick. I'll give you the call in Finnish for the full effect.

The Finnish goal call of Joel Kiviranta's hat trick goal is incredible pic.twitter.com/BfEjIZnmtC

— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) September 4, 2020

If you'd never heard of Kiviranta before today, you definitely weren't alone. The undrafted Finnish forward scored one goal in 11 regular-season games. Then he had recorded one assist (with a plus-4) in two postseason games prior to Game 7. He didn't even need to be moved to the top line for this kind of production, instead making it work with Denis Gurianov and Roope Hintz.

Kiviranta's Dobber Prospects profile doesn't jump out at you, as he is the fourth-ranked right wing prospect in the Stars organization. Even if Kiviranta's career is uneventful going forward, at least he'll be known forever to Stars fans as Mr. Game 7. It's fair to say he's also earned a spot in the lineup for Game 1 of the Western Conference Final.

Alexander Radulov was my Dallas pick to score the overtime winner. He scored the other two Dallas goals, both on the power play. He was able to get to the front of the net both times to handle point shots from Miro Heiskanen and John Klingberg.

In spite of the loss, Vladislav Namestnikov scored twice, including the short-lived go-ahead goal in the third period. Namestnikov was moved up to the Nazem Kadri line and was able to receive his highest icetime total of the postseason (16:22). After just one point in his first eight postseason games, Namestnikov recorded four points over the last four games of this series.

Andre Burakovsky also recorded a goal and an assist, extending his point streak to five games. He finished the postseason with over a point per game (17 points in 15 games), so you would have received great mileage from him in your playoff pool in spite of what might be an earlier-than-expected exit from the Avalanche. Most notably, he led the Avalanche with 5.1 PTS/60. It didn't hurt that he was moved up to top line with the Gabriel Landeskog injury. With 0.78 PTS/GP during the regular season, Burakovsky is a potential sleeper in next season's drafts.

Unfortunately, Nathan MacKinnon will not be able to claim that he recorded a point in every postseason game, as his point streak ended at 14 games. It would have been great to watch him in the Western Conference Final, but we'll have to make do without him. I'm sure we'll see him there in the future.

The Colorado exit will no doubt break some playoff pools, as they were a strong favorite to win it all. Injuries seemed to catch up, though. Landeskog could not suit up for Game 7. Top-4 blueliner Erik Johnson was also missing for most of this series. And of course, the top two goalies were missing, leaving playoff hopes in the hands of Michael Hutchinson, who had played just one regular-season game for the Avs. Maybe in another year the Avalanche would have been world beaters, but sometimes those injuries are too much to overcome.

And of course, the Stars are putting it together at just the right time with their second-string goalie in Anton Khudobin. And how about that scoring? The Stars are scoring at 3.2 goals per game during the postseason, over half a goal better than they had been scoring during the regular season. Leading the charge is Miro Heiskanen with 21 points in 16 playoff games. With two more assists on Friday, Heiskanen is now riding an eight-game point streak. If Dallas can get to the final, Heiskanen should be a Conn Smythe favorite.

Vegas 3, Vancouver 0 (Vegas wins series 4-3)

Thatcher Demko could only be a brick wall for so long. He had made 98 consecutive saves before Shea Theodore finally broke the Golden Knights through with just over six minutes in the third period. I counted 123 saves from Games 5-7 for Demko, which was an average of over 40 saves per game and a .985 save percentage over those three games. This was one of the best stretches of playoff goaltending in some time. It's too bad the team in front of him was thoroughly dominated for much of this series, but the Canucks went about as far as they probably should have.

final shots in the series were 273-170 in Vegas favour
Game 1:39-26
Game 2: 40-27
Game 3: 34-32
Game 4: 33-30
Game 5: 43-17
Game 6: 48-23
Game 7: 36-15

— Jeff Paterson (@patersonjeff) September 5, 2020

The Canucks simply couldn't generate shots. They had taken only two shots after one period and six shots after two. Vegas simply closed every shooting lane, hit everything in sight, and peppered the Canucks with shots when they had the puck. The Canucks might have put forth a better effort had Games 6 and 7 not been back-to-back.

Late in the second period, Ryan Reaves was assessed a five-minute major for this hit to the head of Tyler Motte. It was the right call, as Reaves caught Motte in a vulnerable position.

Here was the #VegasBorn Ryan Reaves hit on #Canucks Tyler Motte. Yikes. pic.twitter.com/v46RjNqyPB

— Here's Your Replay ⬇️ (@TheReplayGuy) September 5, 2020

The Canucks were unable to convert during this five-minute power play. Fortunately, Motte was able to return to the game.

Perhaps overshadowed by Demko, Robin Lehner posted three shutouts in this series. I was thinking the Knights might turn to Marc-Andre Fleury after Game 6, but it didn't matter that Lehner might be tired because he barely had to break a sweat. In spite of the lack of activity, Lehner made some nice saves of his own. Check out this one on Brock Boeser.

Speaking of larceny, Lehner robs Boeser pic.twitter.com/ZdceP4DNV5

— CJ Fogler #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) September 5, 2020

Clearly the Golden Knights will be putting their Stanley Cup hopes on Lehner, and they'll probably at least try to convince him to stay beyond this season. You can probably add Marc-Andre Fleury to the pile of goalies that will be available in some way, shape, or form this offseason.

Jonathan Marchessault looked frustrated for much of this series, taking several minor penalties in addition to being held without a point in his last five games entering Game 7. He was able to bump that slump with an empty-net assist with seconds left to play. He also led his team with seven hits, trying to make things happen.

The Canucks exceeded my expectations both before the season and before the return-to-play, and there's a very bright future with this core. Many Canucks were brand new to the postseason, but they did not seem out of place at all. Elias Pettersson finished off with 18 points in 17 games. Quinn Hughes recorded 16 points in 17 games. Brock Boeser struggled at times, but he ended up with a respectable 11 points in 17 games. And remember Jacob Markstrom? He finished the postseason with an 8-5-1 record and .919 save percentage.

Speaking of the goalies, I discussed yesterday how the Canucks will have a decision on their hands with the goalies, which you can find here. However, there will be important decisions to make beyond the goaltending.

Get ready for very interesting off-season

UFA – Markstrom, Toffoli, Tanev, Leivo

RFA – Stecher, Virtanen, Motte, MacEwen

— Rick Dhaliwal (@DhaliwalSports) September 5, 2020

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Moving forward, we know there will be a Vegas/Dallas Western Conference Final. Who do you like in that series? Look for the panel's Conference Finals picks coming up shortly after the Islanders/Flyers game finishes. In the meantime, you can check out how we've performed (so far) on our Round 2 predictions. At least I can say I'll do no worse than .500, correctly picking Vegas and Tampa but missing on Dallas (like just about every other Dobber writer!)

For more fantasy hockey discussion, or to reach out to me, you can follow me on Twitter @Ian_Gooding.