The Colorado Avalanche head back to American Airlines Center on the brink of elimination, trailing the Dallas Stars 3-1. In the Second Round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Colorado found themselves down 3-1 against Dallas in a best-of-seven playoff series. In that round, the Avalanche forced a Game 7, only to fall 5-4 in overtime. Joel Kiviranta, then playing for Dallas, completed a hat trick and secured the game-winning goal in overtime. Game Five’s puck drop between the Avalanche and the Stars is scheduled for 6 p.m. MT and will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.
ROUND 2 SCHEDULE & RESULTS VS. DAL
- May 7 at Dallas - Game 1; Results: COL: 4 DAL: 3 (OT)
- May 9 at Dallas - Game 2; Results: DAL: 5 COL: 3
- May 11 vs. Dallas - Game 3; Results: DAL: 4 COL: 1
- May 13 vs. Dallas - Game 4; Results: DAL: 5 COL: 1
- May 15 at Dallas - Game 5, 6:00 PM MT / 7:00 PM CT (ESPN, Sportsnet, TVAS)
- May 17 vs. Dallas - Game 6, TBD*
- May 19 at Dallas - Game 7, TBD*
*If necessary
REGULAR SEASON RESULTS VS. DAL
- Nov. 18 at Dallas (W, 6-3)
- Jan. 4 at Dallas (W, 5-4 OT)
- Feb. 27 vs. Dallas (W, 5-1)
- Apr. 7 vs. Dallas (L, 7-4)
STATS ON SKATES
Casey Mittelstadt scored his second goal of this postseason and registered his first of the series. His total of eight points ranks him second among players traded after the March 1 deadline this season.
Cale Makar has accumulated 77 points (19g/58a) over his first 70 playoff appearances. He ranks fifth among NHL defensemen at this point in their careers, following Paul Coffey (33g/53a), Bobby Orr (25g/61a), Brian Leetch (26g/54a), and Al MacInnis (20g/59a).
Jonathan Drouin skated in his first game with the Avs since Game 82 of the regular season and notched an assist. The helper was his first playoff point since August 21, 2020, with Montreal.
DEFEAT IN DALLAS: ROUND 2 GAME 2 RECAP
The Avalanche were defeated 5-1 by the Dallas Stars on Monday night at Ball Arena. Wyatt Johnston found the first two goals of the night, tallying one shorthanded in the first period and the back of the net again in the middle frame on the man-advantage. Later on, Miro Heiskanen widened the Dallas lead to three with a seeing-eye shot from the blue line. Mittelstadt gave the Avs life when he found the back of the net, but it was the lone score for the hosts. Evgenii Dadonov extended the Stars’ lead in the third period and Sam Steel capped off the scoring with an empty-net goal, sealing the Avalanche’s 5-1 defeat.
PUCK PERFORMANCE
37
Colorado is tied for the NHL-lead in total goals with 37. This equates to an NHL-best 4.11 goals per game this postseason.
26
Zach Parise and Mikko Rantanen have recorded 26 points combined in their careers when facing elimination in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Parise has tallied 15 points (5g/10a) across 24 games, while Rantanen has accumulated 11 points (6g/5a) in 10 games.
16
Alexandar Georgiev played in his 16th playoff game with Colorado, tying Darcy Kuemper for the sixth-most in franchise history.
QUOTE(S) THAT LEFT A MARK
“We’ve got nothing to lose. I think we’re going in there, we need to win a game. I know it’s cliché, but I think in games like this, you have zero regrets. You give it all you’ve got physically, mentally. You lay it on the line and see where the chips fall and go from there. I think you want no regrets with your effort and preparation and how hard you play and I think that’s the bottom line going into a game like this.”
- Colorado RW Andrew Cogliano on Game 5 Against Dallas
