The No. 1 adage of any given hockey game, "Anything can happen," also applies to the NHL playoffs.

On Thursday night, the Dallas Stars were unfortunately on the losing side of a freak play that could be considered the worst own goal of the NHL season so far.

In the Stars' Game 6 matchup against the Colorado Avalanche, Avs centre Nathan MacKinnon skated down the left side and passed the puck across the net, where it bounced around the feet of a Stars player amid heavy traffic. Another Stars player tried to clear it, but the puck ended up hitting the shoulder of yet another Stars player and—much to Dallas' dismay—soared toward the net.

Stars goalie Jake Oettinger couldn't react in time, and the puck half-flew, half-wobbled into the back of the net.

The kicker of it all is that MacKinnon was the one who got credited for the goal.

That goal proved to be extremely crucial as it gave Colorado a 5-4 lead in the third period. The Avalanche went on to beat the Stars, 7-4, and force Game 7 of the first-round series.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Dallas Stars Gave Up One of the Worst Own Goals in NHL Playoffs vs. Avalanche.

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