Avs Look To Keep Momentum Going In Game 4

The Colorado Avalanche will strive to keep the momentum going and even up the second-round series against the Dallas Stars in Game 4 on Sunday at 4 p.m. MT.
Colorado took its first victory of the best-of-seven series on Wednesday, winning 6-4 in Game 3. Tyler Seguin opened the scoring for the Stars in the first period, but the Avs rallied with a three-goal second period with tallies from Nikita Zadorov, Andre Burakovsky and Gabriel Landeskog.

Each club scored three times in an action-heavy third period. Denis Gurianov, Blake Comeau and Jamie Benn each netted one to open the stanza, with Comeau and Benn scoring less than two minutes apart to give Dallas its first lead of the game at 4-3, but Colorado answered back and scored three unanswered markers to take the win. Mikko Rantanen evened the score, Nazem Kadri gave the Avalanche the lead and an empty-net tally from Pierre-Edouard Bellemare sealed the deal.
Goaltender Pavel Francouz saved 33-of-37 shots in the victory for the Avs, while Dallas netminder Anton Khudobin stopped 26 of the 31 shots he saw.

Avalanche vs. Dallas Stars | Game 4

Rogers Place | Edmonton, Alberta
| Game Time: | 4 p.m. MT | | --- | --- | | TV: | NBCSN, Sportsnet One, Sportsnet 360, TVA Sports | | Radio: | Altitude Sports Radio, FM 92.5 (KKSE) | | Live Streams: | NHL.tv, Official app, NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app (blackouts apply) | | Online Audio: | Listen Live Here | | Follow: | Virtual GameDay, Digital Arena, Playoff Central, @Avalanche, Official app, Gamecenter |

COLORADO-DALLAS CONNECTIONS

Valeri Nichushkin was selected in the first round (No. 10 overall) of the 2013 NHL Draft by the Dallas Stars and played four seasons with the franchise… Colorado defenseman Kevin Connauton spent parts of two seasons with the Stars (2013-15)… Avalanche forward Logan O'Connor was born in Missouri City, Texas… Dallas forward Blake Comeau played for Colorado from 2015-2018… Stars goaltender Ben Bishop was born in Denver.

HISTORY

The Stars own a 2-1 lead in the series after winning Game 1 by a 5-3 margin and the second outing 5-2. Nathan MacKinnon (seven points; three goals, four assists) and Jamie Benn (six points; one goal, five assists) lead their respective teams so far in the best-of-seven set.
The Avalanche defeated the Stars 4-0 during round-robin play on Aug. 5 in the Stanley Cup Qualifiers. Andre Burakovsky (one goal, one assist), Joonas Donskoi (one goal, one assist) and Samuel Girard (two assists) all recorded two-point outings in the contest. Pavel Francouz made his NHL postseason debut and earned his first shutout in the playoffs.
Colorado dropped each of the four matchups against the Stars during the regular season (0-2-2). The first two outings were only four days apart with the Avs falling 2-1 on Nov. 1 and 4-1 on Nov. 5. The Avalanche was defeated in the final two games in extra minutes by 3-2 margins on Dec. 28 and Jan. 14. J.T. Compher led the Avs in goals after netting two, while MacKinnon registered three points (one goal, two assists) to lead the squad overall during the season series.
The Avs have a 69-53-23 all-time mark against the Stars franchise during the regular season and a 46-35-19 record since moving to Denver for the 1995-96 campaign. MacKinnon has earned 30 points (10 goals, 20 assists) in 31 regular-season outings against the Stars, the most he's scored against any one opponent.
This is the fifth time that the Avalanche and Stars have met in a playoff series. Each team has won two of the previous sets, with Colorado winning the last two in five games during the 2004 and 2006 conference quarterfinals. Dallas won the first two matchups in seven games during the 1999 and 2000 Western Conference Finals.

ROSTER REPORT

Nikita Zadorov left Game 3 with an apparent injury and returned to the bench for the third period but did not play a shift. Head coach Jared Bednar said he expects Zadorov to play in Game 4 after the defenseman practiced on Saturday… Matt Calvert and Joonas Donskoi are unlikely to play after not skating at the team's most recent practice… Goaltender Philipp Grubauer and defenseman Erik Johnson are both out indefinitely with injuries.

SCOUTING THE STARS

Dallas prevented Colorado from capitalizing on any power-play opportunities in the third outing. So far in this series, Dallas has killed 83.3 percent of its penalties and scored on 25 percent of its man-advantage opportunities, though the club did not record a power-play goal in Game 3. In addition, the Stars outshot the Avs 37-32 in Game 3 and are averaging 31.3 shots per game in Round 2. They are tallying 4.67 goals per game, the best mark among the remaining eight clubs

(AVS) PLAYER TO WATCH: Cale Makar

Cale Makar recorded a three-point outing in Game 3, notching helpers on three of the six Avalanche goals for his first multi-point performance of his postseason career. His three points were the most ever by a Colorado rookie defenseman in a single playoff contest (since 1995-96). Makar has recorded four assists so far in this series, tied with Nathan MacKinnon for first on the team, and he's averaged 1.33 points per game after three games. Additionally, Makar leads the team with 25:41 of ice time in the series and has played a total of 14:42 during man-advantage situations versus Dallas, third-most on the squad.

(OPPOSING) PLAYER TO WATCH: Jamie Benn

Jamie Benn leads the Stars so far in the series with six points (one goal, five assists) in the first three contests. Benn also leads his club with a plus-5 rating and is averaging 2.00 points per game. The forward scored the third straight goal for Dallas in the third frame of Game 3 to give the Stars their first lead of game, and he also notched an assist in the contest for his second multi-point outing of the series.

NUMBERS GAME

1

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare netted his first career playoff goal in Game 3, an empty-net tally to help secure the victory for the Avalanche. So far this postseason, he's earned two points (one goal, one assist) through 11 games.

2

Nikita Zadorov recorded his first multi-point game of his postseason career in Game 3 after recording a goal and an assist.

3.82

The Avs lead the league in the playoffs with 3.82 goals per game.

11

Nathan MacKinnon is on an 11-game point streak, the longest in franchise history during the postseason… The previous record of 10 games was set by Joe Sakic in 1996 and the Quebec Nordiques' Marian Stastny in 1982.

NOTEBOOK

Nathan MacKinnon leads the league in playoff scoring after notching 20 points (seven goals, 13 assists) so far this postseason… With an assist in Game 3, Kevin Connauton recorded his first career NHL postseason point… The Avs have had six goals scored by defensemen in the 2020 playoffs, ranking tied for third in the league behind only Dallas (eight) and the Vegas Golden Knights (eight)… Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen both scored in Game 3 to extend their point streaks to five and six games, respectively… MacKinnon has had multi-point efforts in each of his last five games (14 points; five goals, eight assists), the first Avalanche player to have five straight games with two or more points since Peter Forsberg in 2002 (also five games)… Andre Burakovsky has set a new playoff career high with four goals.