5 things to know about the Stars-Avalanche series in Round 2 of Stanley Cup playoffs

The Dallas Stars have reached the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs for the second consecutive year after defeating the Vegas Golden Knights in seven games in their first-round matchup.

Dallas advances to face the Colorado Avalanche, a Central Division rival, in the second round. Colorado cruised to a 4-1 first-round victory over the Winnipeg Jets.

The Stars, as the Western Conference regular season champions, have home-ice advantage, meaning they’ll host Games 1 and 2 as well as Games 5 and 7 (if necessary) at American Airlines Center.

The series will start Tuesday, with Game 1 scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m. Game 2 will start at 8:30 p.m. Thursday.

Here are five things to know about the Stars’ second-round matchup:

A pivotal playoff foe

The Stars have never reached the Stanley Cup Final without going through the Colorado Avalanche. In five postseason meetings, the Stars hold the 3-2 advantage with wins in the 1998-99 season, 1999-2000 season and 2019-20 season.

Their most recent meeting was in the second round of the 2020 Stanley Cup playoff bubble when the Stars won in seven games.

Dallas’ three wins all required a Game 7. Colorado’s two wins were decided in only five games in 2003-04 and 2005-06.

Record doesn’t tell whole story

As division opponents, the Stars and Avalanche met four times in the regular season and Colorado won the series 3-1.

Colorado won the first three meetings — two of which were blowouts — while Dallas came away with arguably its best win of the season on April 7 by a 7-4 margin on the road. That win was key in clinching both the Central Division and Western Conference titles.

The circumstances in which the Stars faced the Avalanche this season were not easy. Dallas’ two road games came on the second night of a back-to-back, and the second home game Jan. 4 was the night Miro Heiskanen collided with Scott Wedgewood and was injured in the third period, leading Dallas to blow a two-goal lead with 10 minutes to play in a 5-4 overtime loss.

The Stars won’t have to worry about back-to-backs in the playoffs. Colorado’s Ball Arena is a difficult environment in which to play, but the Stars will start the series at home as the higher seed.

Avalanche started playoffs hot

The Avalanche lead the NHL this postseason with a whopping 5.6 goals per game. While most other teams saw their goal average decrease in the playoffs, Colorado’s soared. The Avalanche also managed to do so against Winnipeg — one of the best defensive teams in the league with Vezina front-runner Connor Hellebuyck in net.

They are led by forward Nathan MacKinnon, who finished second in the race for the Art Ross Trophy with 140 points in the regular season. He already has nine postseason points (two goals, seven assists) in just five games.

Two other Avalanche players also have nine points — forward Mikko Rantanen and defenseman Cale Makar, a finalist for this year’s Norris Trophy.

On the flip side, the Avalanche allowed 3.0 goals per game, which is the highest among teams advancing to the second round.

Colorado enters series fresh

The Colorado-Winnipeg series was projected to be the toughest first-round matchup in the league with many assuming it would require seven games.

However, Colorado closed it out in five, ending Winnipeg’s season on Tuesday.

With the Stars-Avalanche series starting Tuesday, Colorado will have a full week off the ice by the time the series gets going. That’s a rare break in the postseason and it allows the players to be well-rested entering the Dallas series.

It may not be the worst situation if the Stars have to jump into another series. After having nearly a week off following their last regular season game, the Stars dropped two straight to Vegas at home to start the playoffs.

The quick turnaround could allow Dallas to build on its four-game win streak and Colorado to cool off from its hot start offensively.

Familiar faces on both sides

A handful of Stars and Avalanche players will reunite with their former teams.

For the Stars, Matt Duchene will return to where he began his NHL career. The first-year Dallas forward spent 8.5 seasons in Colorado from 2009-18. It was the longest stop of his career before playing for Ottawa, Columbia, Nashville and now Dallas.

On Colorado’s side, Joel Kiviranta, Valeri Nichushkin and Andrew Cogliano will all return to Dallas.

Kiviranta left most recently, as he was a part of Dallas’ Western Conference finals roster last season. He played four total years in Dallas. Nichushkin started his career with the Stars, spending four various years with the team from 2013-19. Cogliano was in Dallas for three seasons from 2018-21.

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