Avalanche vs. Stars Game 7: Four keys for Colorado to advance to second round
Two teams will enter American Airlines Center on Sunday night in full belief they will win more games this season One of them has already won its last but just doesn t know it yet Here are four keys for the Avs to add more accomplishments to their communal legacy A Championship win A true series comeback Dealing Dallas head coach Pete DeBoer the first Battle loss of his career - Great expectations The winner of Challenge will be one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup The loser will be referenced as one of the NHL s best what could have been clubs That s just a portion of the immediate stakes at hand for the Avalanche and Stars Event is dependably an event with incredible pressure This one has plenty of added context The Avs have not won a Meeting since Colorado s six straight losses is tied for the greater part in league history The current crew doesn t care about or for that matter But this core group has its own demons to slay Nathan MacKinnon Cale Makar Gabe Landeskog and Co have never won a Battle It s four for MacKinnon three each for Makar and Landeskog They ve also never won a series together when they didn t lead it - or - Get to the blue paint For much of the past two postseasons the Stars have been effective at keeping the Avs away from the dangerous scoring areas Colorado had high-danger scoring chances at -on- in the six-game series last year The Avs had in the first two games of this series That s per contest for eight contests They ve started to crack the code The Avs have had at least in each of the past four games though including in Event and in Encounter The Stars drive the puck and bodies toward the front of the net It s in their DNA That s consistently how the Avs operate but they re going to need more of that Saturday night Discipline The favorableness of the whistle has been a talking point for both sides in this series Colorado didn t like the officiating in Contest DeBoer went after the guys in stripes unprompted after Championship obviously trying to send a message ahead of Match Match s are like snowflakes but taking penalties early is a recipe for tragedy The AAC crowd is going to air its grievances early and often so the Avs can t make it easy on the executives by committing obvious infractions Related Articles Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog named finalist for Masterton Trophy Renck TV schedule is heck for Championship heaven But let s savor Nuggets Avs moment Keeler Whiny Pete DeBoer s already working refs for Avalanche-Stars Meeting Cale Makar leads trio of breakout efforts to help Avalanche win wild Competition Mikko Rantanen on Ball Arena boos after four-point night I didn t really hear them Big-game Blackwood The postseason narrative of Mackenzie Blackwood s career begins Saturday night He was fabulous through the first four games He had his first stumble in Championship His response was wobbly particularly in the second period But he made a huge stop late to preserve a - lead Jake Oettinger has been great at times in this series and has three Championship bangers on his resume two wins with one goal allowed each plus saves in a - overtime loss It s time for Blackwood to start writing his story Want more Avalanche news Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis
