Two old rivals are looking to advance to the Western Conference Final of the 2024 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs. The Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche split the first two games at home, but the Stars won Game 3. Dallas has a 2-1 series advantage, but it could have gotten a pretty-much insurmountable series lead. Colorado fought back to take Game 1. However, Dallas has bounced back in the last two. Let’s take a look at the Stars vs Avalanche mid-series review. Here we shall examine the trends and the main storylines going on after three games.
Stars vs Avalanche Mid-Series Recap
Depth Charges
Wyatt Johnston and Jason Robertson carried Dallas to an opening-round win in seven games over the Vegas Golden Knights. In contrast, going forward, the team knew they would have to get scoring from other players. Depth scoring is a necessity for a team if they want to make a deep Stanley Cup run.
Radek Faksa gave the Stars the Game 7 win during round one over the Knights. That has seemingly opened up the floodgates for more scoring from other players. Tyler Seguin has three goals in the last two games, while Logan Stankoven got his first two career post-season goals in Game 3. Ryan Suter started the scoring in the series win his first goal of the post-season.
Esa Lindell got the last goal of Game 2 and Roope Hintz finally got on the scoresheet in that game as well. Dallas will need others to get on the scoring track if it wants to advance to the last four. It is an encouraging sign to see others pick up the scoring slack the deeper into the playoffs they progress.
Dude, Where’s Makar?
Cale Makar is easily one of the most dynamic offensive defencemen in the league. However, he’s been held without a point in the last two games. Makar is going to have to get his points in order for Colorado to get back into the series. Furthermore, things did start off well in the first game of the second-round series. Makar racked up a goal and two assists for three points in the Game 1 comeback. Dallas has managed to keep Makar off the stat sheet the last two games. Much of the Avalanche offence goes through the former University of Massachusetts product.
The Stars are one of the better defensive teams in the league. However, limiting Makar’s opportunities is a tough task for even the toughest of defences. Head Coach Peter DeBoer should be given credit for crafting a strong game-plan to slow down the high-flying Avalanche.
However, Makar has been known to have bounceback games for his team. Colorado’s top defenceman can pour on the points at any moment. The task is far from over for Dallas, but it has done a good job so far.
Goalie Battle
Jake Oettinger was injured and had an off campaign for the Stars. However, the former Boston University goalie has stepped up in big games this post-season. There have been some games where he’s struggled, but he’s come up with the big save more often than not.
Alexandar Georgiev faced the same heat after a shaky Game 1 against the Winnipeg Jets. Things didn’t start off well either in Game 2 of the first round. However, the Bulgarian netminder put his stamp on the series and outplayed Connor Hellebuyck.
The goalie battle was going to be one of the main things that was going to decide the series. Oettinger and the Stars may have gave away Game 1. However, the Lakeville, Minnesota native has put up back-to-back 28-save performances in the last two Dallas wins.
The Stars may be winning the goaltender matchup for now. However, Georgiev did win five straight starts before losing the last two games. Georgiev was the goalie that guided the Avalanche all season long, and his 38-18-5 record shows he’s a winner.
What to Expect for the Rest of the Stars vs Avalanche Series
Styles make fights and that’s the case for this matchup. Dallas has grabbed the lead in each of the first three games of this matchup. Despite this, Colorado has been able to rally and tie or win each of the first three games. The Stars love playing from ahead, but don’t discount the Avalanche and their ability to come back. It will be interesting to see what happens if Colorado can get the lead in a game. Will the Avs turn up the heat to get themselves a two-goal lead, which is something they haven’t had all series.
Also expect the Colorado star players to try and turn up the pressure in Game 4. Players like Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen won’t stay quiet for too long in this series. Going down 3-1 in series with a team like Dallas means almost certain doom. Colorado is talented, but it would be really difficult to recover from such a deficit.
This series seems to be far from over, but the Avalanche are going to have to get Game 4. Tying up the series is imperative if the Colorado has designs on its second Stanley Cup in three seasons.
Main photo by: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
