Dallas, TX
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.
Find more Stars coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
Dallas, TX
Anti-ICE protest outside Dallas City Hall follows deadly shooting in Minneapolis
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Dallas, TX
Dallas Weather: Changes on the way for North Texas
DALLAS – The warm and muggy weather will give way to much cooler temperatures in the Dallas-Fort Worth area over the next few days.
Thursday Forecast
According to the FOX 4 Weather team, rain chances return on Thursday as a disturbance moves through the Plains.
The best chance for showers and storms will be north of Interstate 20. There’s a marginal risk for severe storms for the areas northwest of DFW and along the Red River.
A southwest wind will also keep things very warm throughout the day. Expect highs to climb into the upper 70s to 80s. Wind gusts may reach as high as 25 to 30 mph.
Weekend Forecast
The next cold front swings through on Friday afternoon. Ahead of it, there are rain chances, especially southeast of DFW.
Behind this front, noticeably colder air moves in for the weekend. Expect lows in the 30s and afternoon highs in the 50s.
7-Day Forecast
A slow warm-up is expected heading into early next week.
The Source: The information in this story comes from FOX 4 Weather Meteorologist Ali Turiano’s weather report.
Dallas, TX
Live updates: Washington Capitals vs Dallas Stars at Capital One Arena
Justin Sourdif gave Capitals fans one of the most fun individual efforts of the season, recording five points and scoring his first career hat trick against the Anaheim Ducks on Monday. Sourdif had fantastic chemistry with Connor McMichael and Ryan Leonard in their first game together.
Now the question becomes – Can the Young Guns 2.0 keep it up against a usually-stingy, defensively stout Dallas Stars team?
With Tom Wilson and Aliaksei Protas out again due to injury, Brett Leason will make his season debut with the Capitals. Meanwhile, Dylan McIlrath will remain in the lineup.
The Stars come into on a six-game losing streak. Casey DeSmith will start in goal over Jake Oettinger while the Capitals will counter with Logan Thompson.
Puck drop for today’s game is scheduled for a little after 7:00 pm. The game’s national and on TNT.
I’m dedicating my work tonight to Callie. I love you, my sweet girl. 💔
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More Info
Lines
Washington Capitals
Beauvillier
Strome
Ovechkin
McMichael
Sourdif
Leonard
Dallas Stars
Duchene
Johnston
Rantanen
Tunnel shenanigans
1st Period
Puck is dropped. McMichael-Sourdif-Leonard and Fehervary-Carlson get the start.
Ilya Lyubushkin to the box for holding Jakob Chychrun at 2:44.
Stars’ Radek Faska goes 1 on 3 shorthanded and scores after Logan Thompson loses sight of a rebound. WHAT WAS THAT.
1-0 Dallas Stars
SHG: Radek Faksa (2). Assists: E. Lindell (14). Time: 3:06
Back to the power play and… Justin Sourdif gets tossed from the faceoff dot, starts screaming at the official, Connor McMichael comes in, says something, and he gets an unsportsmanlike doncut penalty, killing the rest of the team’s power play. You can tell Carbery is fuming.
The two teams are now playing four-on-four.
Puck bounces over Dylan Strome’s stick on a wide-open net down low after a great setup by John Carlson.
Stars are outshooting the Capitals 5-0, 5:30 into the first period.
Apparently Beck Malenstyn has returned to the Capitals because one of the commentators said he just made a play. Lmao. No one on the Capitals even wears no. 47.
Sam Steel ailing and holding his left arm after a big hit by Ethen Frank.
At intermission: The Stars lead 1-0. The Caps didn’t really do anything in the first period. They were there. They existed. But that was about it. Shots on goal are 10-8 Dallas.
2nd Period
Puck is dropped.
Ilya Lyubushkin and Brandon Duhaime throwing punches at each other after the play at 1:12. Lyubushkin is going down the tunnel due to a cut on his nose.
John Carlson… just watching a pass through the paint to his man, no stick lift or anything, just chillin.
2-0 Dallas Stars
Goal: Sam Steel (7). Assists: T. Harley (14), M. Duchene (6). Time: 2:37
Ryan Leonard fakes a dump-in and almost scores with a crazy shot to the far side from center ice.
Brandon Duhaime and Ilya Lyubushkin drop the gloves right off a faceoff at 12:53. Duhaime punches Lyubushkin about 5 times hard in the back of the helmet. Hope his knuckles are doing okay. The Caps crowd is finally into it, though.
Logan Thompson stops Roope Hintz on a two-on-none breakaway after Nic Dowd fails to get the puck deep. Caps look awful.
Mikko Rantanen slashes Justin Sourdif at 15:55. Caps going back to the power play.
At intermission: The Stars lead 2-0. Dallas leads in shots on goal 20 to 13.
3rd Period
Puck is dropped.
Anthony Beauvillier takes it hard to the net, and gets two opportunities but can’t whack the puck through.
Nic Dowd to the box for hooking at 4:57. The Caps look awful. Just listless. Can’t get anything going. A lot of standing around.
4 shots by the Stars on the power play. Thompson keeping the Caps close.
McMichael ices the puck at the end of the kill.
Caps have one shot on goal through the first 7:03 of the third period.
Jason Robertson rips one hard off the post. Thompson is flopping all over the place to keep the puck out.
McMichael and Duchene trade opportunities down the wing off the rush.
Beauvillier sends a horrible pass backwards to Matt Roy in the defensive zone, turnover to the Stars’ Steel, and Wyatt Johnston scores easily in front of the net. YIKES.
3-0 Dallas Stars
Goal: Wyatt Johnston (24). Assists: S. Steel (9). Time: 2:37
Caps pull Thompson with 2:26 remaining. Why not?
Alex Ovechkin scores his 915th career goal via a one-timer at the top of the left circle.
3-1 Dallas Stars
Goal: Alex Ovechkin (18). Assists: J. Carlson (23), J. Chychrun (17). Time: 17:41
Capitals pull Thompson again.
Timeout Washington with 1:20 remaining.
Comment below. Refresh for live updates during the game. The thread will be closed shortly after the game is completed.
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