Rewind: Avalanche and Stars Have Long Playoff History

The Colorado Avalanche is facing off against the Dallas Stars in the postseason for the fifth time, and the two teams have produced some memorable series in their histories.
The Avs entered the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs as the No. 2 seed and made quick work of the Arizona Coyotes in the first round, winning in five games. The Stars, who are the No. 3 seed, dismissed the Calgary Flames in six contests, including scoring seven unanswered goals in the elimination Game 6 on Thursday.
This, of course, all transpired after Colorado shut out Dallas 4-0 in the round robin of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers on Aug. 5, helping the Avs gain the better seed for series play. With 27 saves, Pavel Francouz became the first goalie in franchise history to pitch a shutout in his playoff debut.
Now the teams are set to square off again in the fifth playoff installment of Avs v. Stars: The Battle of Division Foes. Here's a look back at the first four franchise-defining matchups.

1999

The first playoff meeting in the 1999 Western Conference Finals went the distance, thanks to a clutch rebound performance by the Avalanche in Game 4.
After dropping the previous two contests to fall down 2-1 in the series, the Avs saw their 2-0 lead in Game 4 evaporate at home. Brett Hull tied the score late into the third period for Dallas, but Chris Drury scored with 31 seconds left in overtime to give Colorado the 3-2 win and even the series.
The Avalanche won 7-5 in Game 5 behind three-point nights from Joe Sakic (three assists), Peter Forsberg (one goal, two assists) and Valeri Kamensky (two goals, one assist). Dallas shored up its defense in Games 6 and 7, however, winning both by a score of 4-1 to reach the Stanley Cup Final. The Stars went on to win their first and only championship that year, defeating the Buffalo Sabres in six games.
Forsberg led the Avs with seven points (two goals, five assists) in the series, while Kamensky (three goals, two assists) and Sakic (two goals, three assists) both had five. Colorado goaltender Patrick Roy finished with a .905 save percentage.

2000

The teams met again the following season in a rematch in the same round, and the same result: Dallas in seven.
The Avs and Stars traded wins through the first four outings--Colorado won 2-0 in both Games 1 and 3--before Dallas won a pivotal Game 5 in overtime. Milan Hejduk scored one of his three goals of the series late in the contest to tie it at 2-2, with assists from Joe Sakic and Adam Foote, but the Stars' Joe Nieuwendyk found the back of the net 12:10 into OT to give Dallas the 3-2 win and its first lead in the series.
Colorado responded in Game 6, winning 2-1 behind Patrick Roy's 26 saves, before the Stars fended off a late Avs surge in the third period of Game 7 to win 3-2 and advance to their second straight Stanley Cup Final; Dallas went on to lose this time in six games to the New Jersey Devils.
Peter Forsberg led the Colorado in points again, finishing with five (two goals, three assists) in the conference finals. Adam Deadmarsh and Chris Drury both had four points, with each contributing a goal and three assists. Patrick Roy turned in a .918 save percentage with two shutouts.
Losing to Dallas for the second straight year was no doubt heartbreaking for the Avs, who went all in for a championship at the trade deadline by acquiring maybe the best defenseman of all time in Ray Bourque. Losing on the road in Game 7 in back-to-back years fueled Colorado, as the team went on to produce its best season in franchise history. The Avalanche won the Presidents' Trophy in 2000-01 with an overall record of 52-16-10-4 and 116 points and defeated the Devils in seven games to capture its second Stanley Cup.

2004

While the Avs had hoisted their second Cup, they had yet to avenge their heartbreaking defeats from the 1999 and 2000 conference finals against the Stars. That would change in 2004, and quickly, as Colorado put away Dallas in five games in the first round.
Colorado stormed out to a 2-0 series lead, before dropping Game 3 in overtime, 4-3. Game 4 needed extra minutes too, but the Avs slammed the door on the Stars comeback when Marek Svatos tallied 5:18 into OT to give his team a 3-2 win and a commanding 3-1 advantage in the series. Colorado closed out the conference quarterfinals the three days later with a 5-1 win in Game 5.

Once again, Peter Forsberg led the way for the Avs with eight points (three goals, five assists) while Joe Sakic (four goals, two assists) and Svatos (one goal, five assists) recorded six points apiece. Goaltender David Aebischer finished with a .936 save percentage, holding the Stars to two or fewer goals in all four wins.

2006

The teams met again two years later in the Western Conference Quarterfinals, and the same result occurred: Colorado in five.
After scoring the last five goals in Game 1 to win 5-2, the Avs needed overtime to win the next two games by scores of 5-4 and 4-3, respectively. Joe Sakic scored the winning goal in Game 2, one of his three in the series, and then Alex Tanguay secured a 3-0 series lead by scoring nearly one minute into overtime in Game 3.

Colorado dropped Game 4 at home, 4-1, but went into Dallas for Game 5 and ended the series, fittingly, in overtime. Andrew Brunette notched the winner to complete a two-point night (one goal, one assist) in the 3-2 victory.
In addition to Brunette and Sakic--who both had three goals and four assists--Milan Hejduk had seven points (two goals, five assists) to tie for the team lead in scoring in the series. Goaltender Jose Theodore turned in a .910 save percentage over the five games.

Overall Scoring

Through four playoff meetings, the Avs and Stars have etched their names into their opponents' history books. Joe Sakic has the second-most playoff points for any player against the Stars with 21 (nine goals, 12 assists), Peter Forsberg is third on the list with 20 points (seven goals, 13 assists) and Milan Hejduk is fifth with 17 (nine goals, eight assists).
For the Stars, Sergei Zubov has the second-most points for any player versus Colorado with 22 (six goals, 16 assists), with 16 of which coming as a member of the Stars (four goals, 12 assists). Mike Modano is fourth all-time in scoring against the Avs with 21 points (six goals, 15 assists).