Not one. Not two. Not three. But six. That’s how many consecutive Game 1s the Dallas Stars have lost after falling to the visiting Colorado Avalanche 4-3 in overtime Tuesday night in the Western Conference semifinals.

The Stars jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first period after goals from Ryan Suter, Wyatt Johnston and Jamie Benn only to then go scoreless the rest of the way and allow four straight goals by the Avalanche, including the winner from Miles Wood nearly nine minutes into overtime.

“We had that game under control, and we let it slip away. But we’ve seen that in the regular season against them,” Stars forward Matt Duchene told reporters. “We had two games like that, so we have bounce back here and split the homestand here.”

The Avalanche jump-started their comeback by capitalizing on their power-play chances. Valeri Nichushkin trimmed the lead to 3-1 a little more than five minutes into the second period, and Cale Makar cut it to 3-2 nearly four minutes later.

Avalanche star center Nathan MacKinnon, who was named one of the three Hart Trophy finalists on Tuesday, scored the tying goal less than a minute into the third period.

“They’re a great power play,” Benn said. “They’ve got a lot of skill. We’ll have to watch some video, learn from it and move on.”

There were moments in overtime when the Avalanche struggled to find a clear shot before Wood found space on a breakaway and beat Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger for the winning goal.

“We didn’t know we could come back, but we wanted to at least try,” MacKinnon said after the game.

Learning how to make the necessary adjustments following a Game 1 loss has proved to be a familiar theme for the Stars.

The last time they won Game 1 of a playoff series came in 2020, when they took the first game of the Stanley Cup Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning in a series Dallas would lose in six games.

The Stars opened the 2022 playoffs with a Game 1 loss to the Calgary Flames and fell in seven games. Last season saw the Stars open the playoffs with a Game 1 loss in double overtime in the first round to the Minnesota Wild before winning the series in six games. Dallas lost Game 1 of the second round in overtime to the Seattle Kraken before winning that series in seven games en route to reaching the Western Conference finals, where the Stars lost another Game 1 that went into overtime to the Vegas Golden Knights before dropping that series in six games.

Fast-forward to this year’s playoffs: The Stars lost the first two games of their opening-round series to the Golden Knights before ousting the defending Stanley Cup champions in the first round. And now Dallas has pushed that streak to six straight Game 1 defeats with Tuesday’s loss to the Avalanche.

“I think you learn about each other as a series goes on, and what we know about that team is what happened tonight,” Stars coach Peter DeBoer said. “I think we had the lead. … They’re a quick-strike team. You can’t make mistakes in those situations. It’s a tough lesson to learn in Game 1, but glad you’re not learning it in Game 6 or 7 in an elimination game.”

The Russian state has been making more money from its oil and gas industry in the past three months than in any comparable period since the early days of the Ukraine invasion, it has emerged.

The figures underline that despite the imposition of various sanctions on fossil fuel exports from Russia since February 2022, the country is still making significant sums from them. This is in part because rather than preventing Russia from exporting oil, gas and coal, they have simply changed the geography of the global fossil fuels business.

In the three months to April, Russia made a monthly average of 1.2 trillion rubles (£10.4bn) from its oil and gas revenues, according to Sky analysis of figures collected by Bloomberg.

That is the highest three-month average since April 2022.

It comes amid elevated oil prices and concerns that sanctions on Russia are failing to prevent the country earning money and waging war on Ukraine.

Before the invasion of Ukraine, the world’s biggest recipients of Russian oil experts were the European Union, the US and China. Since then, the UK, US and EU have banned the import of crude oil or refined products from Russia.

G7 nations have also introduced a price cap which aims to prevent any Western companies – from shipping firms to insurers – from assisting with any Russian oil exports for anything more than $60 a barrel.

However, Russia continues to export just as much oil as it did before the invasion of Ukraine and the imposition of the price cap.

Sanctions experts say the price cap has been a qualified success, since it has slightly reduced the potential revenues enjoyed by the Kremlin, if it intends to ship that oil via most commercial ships. In response, Russia is reported to have built up a so-called “dark fleet” of ships carrying Russian oil without obeying those sanctions.

The top three destinations for Russian oil are now China, India and Turkey. The UK now imports considerably more oil and oil products from the Middle East than before, making it more reliant on the Gulf.

However, Russian fossil fuel molecules are still being exported to the UK, albeit indirectly, because the sanctions imposed by western nations do not cover oil products refined elsewhere.

The upshot is that Indian refineries are importing a record amount of oil from Russia, and Britain is importing a record amount of oil from Indian refineries – up by 176% since the invasion of Ukraine.

At least some Russian oil still powers the cars in Britain and the planes refilling in British airports, but because it is impossible to trace the fossil fuels molecule by molecule, it is hard to know precisely how much.

Pubs will be able to extend their opening hours to 1am if England or Scotland make it to the Euro 2024 semi-finals this summer.

Venues will be allowed to stay open for an extra two hours on match days if either or both teams reach the last four or the final, the government said.

Most pubs shut by 11pm but ministers can make an order to relax licensing hours to mark occasions of “exceptional national significance”.

Home Secretary James Cleverly said the move will “allow friends, families and communities to come together for longer to watch their nation hopefully bring it home”.

It covers venues in England and Wales, with Scotland and Northern Ireland in charge of their own licensing rules.

The move comes after a consultation at the end of last year and is hoped to provide a boost to the hospitality industry, which has been hit hard by soaring energy prices and the cost of living crisis.

Germany is hosting Euro 2024, with the semi-finals taking place on Tuesday 9 July and Wednesday 10 July, with the final on Sunday 14 July.

The head of trade body UK Hospitality Kate Nicholls said the extended hours were “essential to allow venues and fans to take full advantage”.

Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, said by “cutting red tape, doing business will be that much easier”.

She added: “The beer and pub sector is set for a bumper summer of sport, so let’s hope that England and Scotland make it not just through to the semi-finals but meet in the final itself, with pub goers able to cheer the teams on with a beer later into the night thanks to these new measures.”

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England fell short of European glory in the COVID-delayed Euro 2020 after losing to Italy in the final.

If the team manages to go one better this summer, it will be the first major trophy won by the men’s team since the World Cup in 1966.

Scotland is the only other home nation to have qualified for the tournament. Wales narrowly missed out on a place after losing to Poland in a penalty shootout in Cardiff last month.

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Police brief England stars ahead of Euros
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The UK government has previously pushed back pub closing times for royal weddings, the Queen’s 90th birthday in 2016, the World Cup in 2014 and the last Euro final in 2022.

Pub opening times were also extended during the King’s coronation weekend last year.

The legislation to enact the change will be laid in parliament on Wednesday to ensure there is enough time for it to be debated and passed before the tournament begins.

A Scottish government spokesperson said it was up to local licensing boards whether or not to allow pubs to extend their opening hours.