The first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs features 16 teams in eight best-of-7 series, which start Saturday. Today, NHL.com previews the Western Conference First Round between the Dallas Stars and the Colorado Avalanche.
(2C) Dallas Stars vs. (3C) Colorado Avalanche
Stars: 50-25-6, 106 points
Avalanche: 49-29-4, 102 points
Season series: DAL: 1-1-1; COL: 2-1-0
Game 1: Saturday at Dallas (8:30 p.m. ET; Victory+, MAX, truTV, TNT, ALT, SN360, SN, TVAS)
This series won’t look like it did last season, when the Stars defeated the Avalanche in six games in the Western Conference Second Round.
Mikko Rantanen plays for Dallas, not Colorado. The Avalanche traded the pending unrestricted free agent to the Carolina Hurricanes in a three-team deal also involving the Chicago Blackhawks on Jan. 24. The Hurricanes traded him to the Stars on March 7, and he signed an eight-year, $96 million contract ($12 million average annual value).
“It’s going to be different, for sure, than I’m used to playing in the playoffs,” said the forward, who entered the NHL with the Avalanche in 2015-16 and won the Stanley Cup with them in 2022. “I played for the same team always, but now it’s different -- and I’m playing against them, which is funny.”
It goes beyond that, though.
The Avalanche have made many additions, including goalies Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood; defensemen Erik Johnson and Ryan Lindgren; and forwards Charlie Coyle, Jack Drury, Martin Necas and Brock Nelson.
Captain Gabriel Landeskog could return after missing three seasons with a knee injury. He played two games with Colorado of the American Hockey League on a conditioning stint last week, the forward’s first action since June 26, 2022, when the Avalanche defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final and won the Cup.
“It’s exciting for us, because it may give us another option here,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “To have another player of his caliber possibly being ready to go is only a positive from my mind.”
Will Colorado fare better against Dallas with less star power but more depth? How will they fare without forward Jason Robertson, who is week to week with a lower-body injury. Will the Stars have defenseman Miro Heiskanen back?
Forward Tyler Seguin, who had five points (three goals, two assists) against the Avalanche last year, returned to the Dallas lineup Tuesday after missing 58 games with a hip injury. But Robertson left that game in the second period with a lower-body injury and did not return. Heiskanen, who led the Stars with eight points (four goals, four assists) and 172:16 of ice time against the Avalanche last year, has missed 32 games with a lower-body injury. Dallas hopes to have Heiskanen back sometime in the first round. Robertson's status is unclear.
“We met in the second round last year,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “People said that could have been a third- or a fourth-round matchup. I think we’re both better teams than we were a year ago, and we’re meeting in the first round. But that’s the NHL playoffs.”
Game breakers
Stars: Rantanen averages 1.25 points per game in the playoffs, tied with Mark Messier for sixth in NHL history among those who have played at least 74 games. In his career with Colorado, he had 17 points (six goals, 11 assists) in 14 playoff games against Dallas. Since joining Dallas, he has 18 points (five goals, 13 points) in 19 regular-season games. Matt Duchene, who entered the NHL with Colorado in 2009-10 and was traded to the Ottawa Senators on Nov. 5, 2017, eliminated the Avalanche with a goal in double overtime in Game 6 last year and led Dallas with 81 points (30 goals, 51 assists) in 81 games this season.
