Series Preview: Avalanche vs. Stars in Second Round

After winning its first round series 4-1, the Colorado Avalanche is set to take on the Dallas Stars in the second round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs beginning on Saturday at 6 p.m. MT.

The Avs and Stars have already met once this postseason during the round-robin play in the Stanley Cup Qualifiers, and Colorado defeated Dallas 4-0 in that outing. Cale Makar, Joonas Donskoi, Vladislav Namestnikov and Andre Burakovsky all netted goals while Pavel Francouz made his first NHL postseason appearance and notched his first NHL playoff shutout. Colorado earned the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference with a 2-0-1 mark in the round robin, while the Stars secured the No. 3 seed with a 1-2-0 record.

Both clubs had strong showings in the first round. Colorado defeated the Arizona Coyotes 4-1 in its series, playing the final game of the best-of-seven set on Wednesday. The Avs earned a 3-0 win in Game 1 and had a 3-2 victory in Game 2 but fell 4-2 in Game 3. Colorado had back-to-back 7-1 victories in the fourth and fifth contests to claim the series and advance to the second round.

Dallas took down the Calgary Flames 4-2, concluding its series with a comeback win in Game 6 on Thursday. To start the set, Denis Gurianov and Jamie Benn both tallied but the Flames claimed a 3-2 victory and an early series lead. In Game 2, Miro Heiskanen scored twice while Alexander Radulov, Corey Perry and Jamie Oleksiak each tallied to help Dallas even the series at 1-1 by defeating Calgary 5-4.

The Flames shut out the Stars 2-0 in Game 3, but Dallas went on to win three straight beginning with a 5-4 win in overtime in the fourth contest. Joe Pavelski tallied a hat trick, and Gurianov and Radulov each scored to knot the series at 2-2.

Benn and John Klingberg both tallied in the Stars' 2-1 victory in the fifth contest, taking a 3-2 series lead. Finally, Dallas earned a decisive Game 6 victory by coming back to win 7-3. Calgary found the back of the net three times in the first 6:34 of the game, but Dallas scored seven unanswered to pick up the series victory. Gurianov recorded four goals and added an assist while Heiskanen had a goal and three helpers. Gurianov's four markers set a new franchise record for the most goals in a playoff game, which was last accomplished by a Dallas player in 1989.

Heiskanen led the Stars against the Flames, recording eight points (three goals, five assists) in six games. Gurianov ranked second for Dallas during the first-round series with seven points (six goals, one assist). Tied for third on the club's scoring in the best-of-seven set are Pavelski (six points; four goals, two assists) and Klingberg (six points; one goal, five assists).

Goaltender Anton Khudobin started five of the six games against Calgary and went 3-2-0. During the first round, Khudobin earned a .918 save percentage and 2.52 goals-against average. Additionally, he started in two round-robin games, moving his 2020 postseason record to 4-3-0. Through seven playoff games this postseason, he's earned a .919 save percentage and 2.49 goals-against average, only allowing 18 goals.

Khodobin has stepped up this postseason in the absence of Dallas' usual starting netminder, Ben Bishop. Bishop was only in net for Game 2 of the series against the Flames, making 22-of-26 saves in the overtime win. Bishop was the backup netminder for the first and third games of the series before being deemed unfit to play for Game 4 on Sunday. Jake Oettinger backed up for the final two games of the series as Bishop stayed out with an undisclosed injury and no timetable has been announced for his return. Bishop's only other start this postseason was on Aug. 3 in the club's first round-robin game against the Golden Knights.

Dallas was one of the top four teams in the Western Conference heading into the postseason after earning a 37-24-8 mark and 82 points during the regular season. The club was ranked 10th in the league and fourth in the West at the conclusion of the campaign, based on points percentage. Tyler Seguin led the Stars with 50 points (17 goals, 33 assists) through 69 games played. Benn earned 39 points (19 goals, 20 assists) to take second place while Heiskanen earned 35 points (eight goals, 27 assists) to rank third.

The Avs went 0-2-2 against the Stars during the regular season. Dallas defeated Colorado 2-1 on Nov. 1 and 4-1 just four days later on Nov. 5. Colorado then fell 3-2 in a shootout on Dec. 28 and 3-2 in overtime on Jan. 14, the last time the teams faced off until the round-robin matchup. Colorado outshot Dallas in three of the four contests and 162-137 total. In two of the four outings, the Avs outshot the Stars by 10 or more.

Nathan MacKinnon led Colorado with three points (one goal, two assists) against Dallas in four games, while J.T. Compher (two goals), Makar (two assists) and Matt Nieto (two assists) all tied for the second spot. On the Dallas side, Roope Hintz (four points; two goals, two assists) and Klingberg (four assists) led the Stars against Colorado during the regular season. Gurianov ranked third against the Avs with three points (two goals, one assist).

Colorado owns a 69-53-23 all-time regular season record against the Dallas/Minnesota North Stars franchise. Since the Avs moved to Denver for the 1995-96 campaign, the club has gone 46-35-19 against the Stars. The teams have met in four playoff series previously, and Colorado has earned a 15-10 all-time postseason mark against Dallas, including this year's round-robin game.

The Avs and Stars first met in the playoffs in consecutive seasons in the 1999 and 2000 Western Conference Finals. Both sets required seven games and Dallas took 4-3 victories in both to eliminate the Avs and eventually win the Stanley Cup in 1999. The clubs met against in the 2004 Western Conference Quarterfinals, where Colorado defeated Dallas 4-1 in five games. The Avs took the fourth matchup between the clubs with a 4-1 series victory in the 2006 conference quarterfinals.

With the team's meeting again for a fifth time in the playoffs, the Stars are now tied for the second-most common opponent for the Avalanche in the postseason, behind only the Detroit Red Wings (six times). Colorado has also played the Montreal Canadiens (while the Quebec Nordiques) and San Jose Sharks five times in franchise history.

This is the 33rd time in Dallas' franchise history that the squad has qualified for the playoffs. The Stars won their first and only Stanley Cup in 1999 and have played in the finals four times in franchise history (also 2000 and in 1981 and 1991 as the Minnesota North Stars). Overall, Dallas owns a 31-31 series mark in the postseason and a 175-173 record in 348 playoff games. Last postseason, the Stars fell 4-3 to the St. Louis Blues in the second round of the 2019 playoffs, losing Game 7 in double overtime.