Avalanche Plays Second Round Robin Game Against Dallas

The Colorado Avalanche is taking the ice against the Dallas Stars in its next Stanley Cup Qualifier matchup on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. MT at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta.

The Avs are coming off of a 2-1 victory against the St. Louis Blues on Sunday in their first round-robin contest of the postseason. The Blues took the first lead of the game after David Perron opened the scoring in the first period with a power-play goal. Ryan Graves tallied his first postseason goal five minutes into the third period to tie the contest, and Nazem Kadri scored the game-winner with 0.1 seconds left in the final period. Colorado earned two points in the round robin and moved closer to its goal of claiming the top seed in the West for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Stars fell 5-3 to the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday in Edmonton in its first round-robin outing. Joe Pavelski, Jamie Oleksiak and Corey Perry all tallied for Dallas in the second period, but Vegas scored four unanswered goals in the third period to take the win.

Scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m. MT at Rogers Place in the West's hub city of Edmonton, Alberta.

Avalanche vs. Dallas Stars

Rogers Place | Edmonton, Alberta

| Game Time: | 4:30 p.m. MT | | --- | --- | | TV: | Altitude/Altitude 2, NHL Network, FX-Canada, Fox Sports Southwest (DAL) -- Blackouts Apply | | Radio: | Altitude Sports Radio, FM 92.5/AM 950 (KKSE) | | Live Streams: | NHL.tv, AltitudeNow.com, Official app (blackouts apply to all) | | Online Audio: | Listen Live Here | | Follow: | Virtual GameDay, Digital Arena, @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… Stars forward Blake Comeau played for Colorado from 2015-2018… Dallas goaltender Ben Bishop was born in Denver.

HISTORY

The Avs went 0-2-2 against the Stars during the season. In the series, Colorado fell in regulation on Nov. 1 (2-1) and Nov. 5 (4-1) before losing 3-2 in a shootout on Dec. 28 and 3-2 in overtime on Jan. 14. Nathan MacKinnon led the team in scoring against Dallas during the year, recording three points (one goal, two assists). J.T. Compher netted two goals versus the Stars while Matt Nieto and Cale Makar each tallied two assists.

The Avalanche holds a 69-53-23 all-time mark against Dallas in the regular season, with a 46-35-19 record since moving to Denver for the 1995-96 campaign. MacKinnon has 30 points (10 goals and 20 assists) in 31 career games against Dallas, the most he's tallied versus one opponent.

The Avs and Stars have played four postseason series in their histories, with both teams winning twice. The clubs last met in the 2008 Western Conference Quarterfinals, and Colorado won that best-of-seven series in five games (4-1).

ROSTER REPORT

Goaltender Pavel Francouz is expected to start in net against the Stars after Philipp Grubauer played on Sunday against St. Louis. Head coach Jared Bednar has said he wants to play both netminders during the round robin.

SCOUTING THE STARS

Dallas sported a 37-24-8 mark this season and while its 82 points ranked fifth in the conference, the team's .594 points percentage was the fourth-best in the West and allowed the Stars to earn a bye into the first round of the playoffs.

The Stars scored on 21.1 percent of their power-play opportunities and killed 79.7 percent of their penalties during the season. Against the Avs, Dallas found the back of the net on 17.7 percent of its man advantages and had a 94.4-percent success rate on the PK.

In addition, Dallas scored nine overtime goals this campaign, the most of any team in the league. The Stars also won 11 games when trailing after the first period and nine after being down in the second, tied for the NHL's best mark in both categories.

(AVS) PLAYER TO WATCH: Ryan Graves

Ryan Graves made his NHL postseason debut on Sunday against the St. Louis Blues and scored his first postseason goal. Graves played his first full season with the Avalanche this year and led the league with a plus-40 rating, the first Avs player to lead the league in that category since Milan Hejduk and Peter Forsberg in 2002-03 (plus-52 each). The defenseman finished the season with 26 points (nine goals, 17 assists) in 69 games played. Graves saw 19:36 on the ice against the Blues, the sixth-most of any Avs player.

(OPPOSING) PLAYER TO WATCH: Roope Hintz

Roope Hintz ranked fifth on the Stars after notching 33 points (19 goals, 14 assists) in 60 games this season. He scored five game-winning goals this campaign, the second-most for Dallas, while his two short-handed markers led the Stars. Hintz ranks second on Dallas after having tallied the first goal of the game four times. He is tied for the most points against the Avalanche during the year with four points (two goals, two assists) in three games. Hintz scored short-handed and game-winning goals against the Avs, as well as adding two power-play assists.

NUMBERS GAME

.1

With his game-winning goal with 0.1 seconds left in the third period of Sunday's game against St. Louis, Nazem Kadri became the second NHL player to score a go-ahead goal at 19:59 of the third period in the postseason.

4

Ryan Graves became the fourth defensemen in franchise history to score a goal in his first career postseason game, joining Cale Makar (April 15, 2019 vs. Calgary), Nikita Zadorov (April 12, 2018 at Nashville) and Brett Clark (April 22, 2006 at Dallas).

162x115

The Avs scored 162 goals in 5-on-5 play during the regular season, while their opponents scored 115 against them in the same situation. This gives Colorado a plus-47 goal differential in 5-on-5 play.

NOTEBOOK

Colorado outshot St. Louis 38-32 on Sunday… The Avs killed three of the four penalties they took against the Blues… Nathan MacKinnon led the team with 31 power-play points (12 goals, 19 assists), fourth-most in the NHL… Fourteen Avs different players recorded at least one point on the power play this season, and seven different players recorded a short-handed point… Colorado went 10-8-2 against the Central Division during the regular season and 21-14-4 against the Western Conference.