Stars-Avalanche 1st-round series is match made in 7

DENVER -- You can argue about the format for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, or you can embrace it, because this is what it can create. Game 7. Colorado Avalanche. Dallas Stars. Western Conference First Round.

We’re getting a conference-final-level, winner-take-all matchup at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN, TVAS).

“There’s no use crying about it,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “It’s not 1 versus 16 or 1 versus 8. You’re playing top teams in the whole league right out the gate in every round if you want to get to where you want to go, so you’ve got to play your best for two-week stretches. It’s almost like survival and nothing else. That’s what you’re trying to do. You’re playing for your life every night.”

No, the NHL does not seed the 16-team field from top to bottom -- in the League or in the conferences. The top team in each division plays a wild card. The second and third place teams in each division play each other.

The Central Division is a gauntlet.

The Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2022. The Stars went to the conference final each of the past two seasons.

The Stars finished second in the division and fifth in the League this season. The Avalanche finished third in the division and tied for seventh in the League with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Whoever wins Game 7 must play the Winnipeg Jets, who won the Presidents’ Trophy as the NHL’s top regular-season team, or the St. Louis Blues, who had the League’s best record after Feb. 8 (20-4-3, .796 points percentage).

That series will also go the distance after the Blues defeated the Jets 5-2 in Game 6 on Friday. Game 7 will be in Winnipeg on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TBS, MAX, FDSNMW).

“That’s just the way the format is,” Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar said. “You’re going to have to beat really good teams every single round. Dallas is obviously incredibly stacked, and we knew that coming in. It wasn’t going to be an easy series regardless of being up or down.

“I don’t think there was a world where this wasn’t going to seven.”

Colorado and Dallas have given us an epic series already, full of ups and downs and storylines.

The Avalanche led 1-0. The Stars took a 2-1 lead. The Avalanche tied it 2-2. The Stars took a 3-2 lead. The Avalanche tied it again.

Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog returned from a knee injury after an absence of almost three years in Game 3, and he has four points (one goal, three assists) in four games. Incredible.

Forward Mikko Rantanen, whom the Avalanche traded to the Carolina Hurricanes on Jan. 24, only to see the Hurricanes flip him to the Stars on March 7, leads Dallas with eight points (two goals, six assists).

Meanwhile, forwards Martin Necas and Jack Drury, two of the pieces the Avalanche received from the Hurricanes for Rantanen, have combined for seven points (two goals, five assists).

Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon leads the playoffs with six goals and is tied for second with 10 points. Makar hasn’t had his best series by his high standard, but he still has five points (one goal, four assists), tied for third in the playoffs among defensemen.

We could go on and on.

“It’s two good teams, and personally, not surprised it’s going to Game 7,” Rantanen said. “It’s two really good teams. It’s good for the hockey world to see this series. Yeah, we’ve got to be reset now and get ready for Saturday.”

Dallas coach Pete DeBoer is playing the underdog. He’s got a point. Miro Heiskanen, the Stars’ No. 1 defenseman, and forward Jason Robertson, who led the Stars with 35 goals in the regular season, have not played in the series due to lower-body injuries.

For that reason alone, many people in the League and media picked Colorado.

“No one gave us a chance to win this series, and here we are with one game at home to advance, so that’s a great situation to be in,” DeBoer said.

At the same time, DeBoer has said the rest of the Dallas lineup hasn’t gotten enough respect.

“You build a narrative for your team to grab onto,” Bednar said. “Listen, they’re playing without Heiskanen, and they’re playing without Roberston, and they’ve had other guys step up and elevate their game. They’re deep. This is a deep team. They finished where they finished for a reason. …

“But we have our own narrative too, right? We feel like we’re a team that can win. We feel like we’re a team that can win. But you’ve got to go prove it.”

It comes down to Game 7.

“Obviously both teams have a lot of belief,” Bednar said. “Like I said, it’s survival, right? You’re just trying to go play the best you can for that game and leave it all out on the ice and survive and just earn another chance to get even more pressure.”

He laughed.

“I don’t know,” he continued. “Playoffs is so fun, but it’s the highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows. I mean, that’s what it is, and you’re trying to get as many of those highs as you possibly can.”