Avalanche beginning to feel the heat now

The Colorado Avalanche are beginning to feel the heat now. What was once thought to be an insurmountable lead has now closed to a two-point gap.

There was a time this season when no one believed that the Dallas Stars or Minnesota Wild could catch the Avalanche atop the Central Division. But a 2-1 shootout victory by the Stars on Wednesday night closed the gap to two points.

Sure, it was good that the Avalanche got a point out of the game. But it wasn’t exactly what Colorado would have hoped for.

The Avs would have ideally won the game in regulation and put some daylight between them and Dallas. A regulation win would have opened up a five-point lead. Instead, the outcome left the Avs with a tight two-point margin.

While there’s no need to panic, the Central Division race could be too close for comfort. Plus, the defeat is officially the Avs’ third in a row. That may sound alarming, but a 6-3-1 mark over their last 10 games suggests there’s no need to push the panic button.

But it could get to a point where the Stars, who are 8-1-1 in their last 10, might make a serious push to take the division lead. If anything, the Stars’ late push signals they want to avoid going through Minnesota and Colorado in the playoffs. They’ll rather allow Colorado and Minnesota to annihilate each other and take on whatever is left over in the second round.

Stars looking to submit Avalanche with physicality

Anyone who watched Wednesday night’s game could see one thing. The Stars needed to rely on over-the-top physical antics to compete with the Avalanche. The Stars just don’t have the firepower to compete with Colorado.

Sure, they have some solid offensive players. But there’s no way Dallas can go pound-for-pound against the Avalanche.

So, the Stars have to resort to parlor tricks to keep up with the Avs. Here’s one such example:

That’s also part of the reason why Dallas targeted agitator extraordinaire Michael Bunting at the NHL trade deadline. Bunting was up to his usual tricks, trying to get under the skin of the likes of Cale Makar. Makar and Bunting had an exchange late in the second period that led to offsetting minor penalties.

Makar took the bait. You could see the look on his face when both players skated off to the penalty box.

That’s what the Stars’ game plan is all about. There’s hardly anything else they can do to compete with Colorado.

Oh, incidentally, the Avalanche outshot Dallas 34-18. If it hadn’t been for Jake Oettinger, the game could have been a blowout. There were at least three or four decent scoring chances that, had it not been for Oettinger, would have surely been goals.

The loss, while certainly annoying, signals that a playoff series between Dallas and Colorado will come down to pushing and shoving more than actual skill on the ice.