Colorado Avalanche Hope to Streak Past Dallas Stars

The Colorado Avalanche want to keep the wins coming when they face the Dallas Stars in their third of five meetings.

The Colorado Avalanche would love to get a little winning streak started by beating the Dallas Stars at the Pepsi Center. They have their overtime victory against the Detroit Red Wings to build on.

This will be the third of five meetings between the Central Division rivals. Both teams have won at home this season, 3-1 for Dallas on October 14 and 5-3 for Colorado on October 24. Matt Duchene scored the lone goal for the Avalanche in Dallas, while Matthew Nieto scored his first NHL hat trick in the home win. Gabriel Landeskog and Mark Barberio also scored for Colorado.

After the results of their first two matches of the season, the two teams have faced each other 113 times. The Avalanche have now gone 55-41-9-8(ties) against Dallas.

Colorado is coming off a two-day break (which included one practice) after an overtime win in Detroit. Dallas is coming into Denver after facing the Montreal Canadiens at home.

How to Enjoy the Game

Game time: November 22, 7:00 pm MT
TV Networks: Altitude TV (Avs feed), FS-SW (Stars feed)
Radio: Altitude Radio (AM 950)

Keys for the Colorado Avalanche

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The biggest keys for the Colorado Avalanche lie in specialty teams. In the last two games, they’ve gone 1-13 on the power play but allowed three goals on seven short-handed opportunities in the same span.

That tells you all you need to know of what the Avs need to focus on. They’ve done a relatively good job of staying out of the penalty box — although Mikko Rantanen somehow got the referees’ attention in Detroit because he had all three Avs penalties there. Anyway, a 42.3% save percentage on the penalty kill is dismal.

The Avalanche and their speed have done a good job of drawing penalties. However, what’s the point if you’re better at even strength? Nail Yakupov finally got the lone power play goal in the last two games for Colorado.

Colorado and Dallas tend to play a similar type of game based on a lot of skating and going on the rush. The Avalanche can skate with any team — and better than many. Keeping their feet moving will be another key for Colorado.

Players to Watch

Stars captain Jamie Benn has a bad habit of scoring against the Colorado Avalanche. He’s done so twice this season already. He’s also on a pretty decent scoring streak, having recorded seven points in the last seven games.

Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog scored against the Dallas Stars in their last meeting. He’s also had a bit of a hot streak after scoring a hat trick against Washington. He also earned an assist on the game-tying overtime goal in Detroit.

Nathan MacKinnon Living up to Potential

The main player to watch is Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon. Avs fans posit he’s finally living up to the potential of a first-overall draft pick who went on to win the Calder Trophy for rookie of the year.

MacKinnon leads the team in points with 22 (7 goals, 15 assists) and is behind only Landeskog for goals. He centers the hottest line on the team, with Landeskog and Rantanen flanking him. He has been skating like he has rockets in his blades and moving the puck like it’s on a string.

In the last three games, MacKinnon has recorded seven points (2 goals, 5 assists), which has been good enough to earn him third-star honors for the entire NHL this week.

This is the MacKinnon the team has been expecting to build around. We’re all hoping he continues to show that leadership on the ice.

Next: Avs' Quarter-Season Review

The Colorado Avalanche will host the Dallas Stars one last time on December 3. They’ll travel to Dallas for their final match up on January 13.

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