Dallas Stars Site Expert imparts wisdom on first-round matchup with Colorado Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars will kick off an epic first-round matchup on Saturday evening at the American Airlines Center. The series is easily the best opening-round matchup in the 2025 NHL playoffs.

With it, comes a significant amount of speculation regarding what the Stars bring to the table against an Avalanche team that overcame a significant amount of inconsistency and injury woes this year.

Brian Sweet, Site Expert at Blackout Dallas, imparted wisdom on Thursday offering these insightful comments into what Avalanche fans can expect from the Avalanche-Stars first-round clash:

“The Dallas Stars are one of the elite teams in the Western Conference this season. There’s a reason they were third overall in the NHL standings for quite some time.” Sweet added, “While the last seven games don’t show the eliteness the Stars have, they have some strengths that could cause the Avalanche to melt into the offseason.”

Sweet’s comments underscore how the Stars struggled down the stretch. The club entered riding a seven-game losing streak. But that unfortunate streak doesn’t take away from how dangerous the Stars can be.

Sweet expanded on his comments stating:

 “One of those strengths happens to be the forward depth the Stars have coming into the series. If you look at all four lines, each of them potentially can take over a game in the blink of an eye.”

One player that stands out as one the Avalanche need to keep a close watch on is:

“With Tyler Seguin returning to action, the second line looks incredibly dangerous after scoring 16 seconds into the game against Nashville.”

Indeed, Seguin can be a difference-maker for the Stars. But that’s not all. Sweet highlighted this key strength for the Stars this season:

“Another strength has been the goaltending. If you exclude what happened the last seven games, the Stars have had one of the top goaltending duos for most of the season. Jake Oettinger and Casey DeSmith put up some impressive numbers.”

There is no question that the Dallas Stars have a full package, something the Avalanche will need to work hard to contain. But like all teams, the Stars are not perfect. Some weaknesses emerge, ones that could allow the Avalanche to take the series.

Looking at potential weaknesses for Dallas Stars in series against Colorado Avalanche

One glaring weak link in the Stars stands out: Defense. As Brian Sweet pointed out, the loss of elite blue liner Miro Heiskenen weighed heavily on the Stars. Sweet stated:

“One of their negatives is their defense depth. Once Miro Heiskanen got injured, the goals against average stat increased after the injury. Thomas Harley and Esa Lindell tried their best to get it back down to where it was, but the defensive depth showed their main weakness.”

This potential weak link could be something the Avalanche can exploit with the high-end scoring talents featuring Nathan MacKinnon, Brock Nelson, Valeri Nichushkin, Artturi Lehkonen, and Jonathan Drouin.

Sweet also highlighted this potential drawback for the Stars:

“Another weakness is overcompensating. The Stars have a recent problem of over-defending players. If you watch the video linked here.”

“You can see the Stars’ defense collapse and allow the Predators to score on Oettinger. That’s something that could send the Stars home early if they don’t fix it by Saturday.”

Ultimately, Sweet points out the following as what could be the key for either team to take the series:

“It’s going to be a great series this year between both teams. I think whomever can overwhelm the other team’s goaltender will win this series.”

With such a tight series coming up, it’s extremely challenging to predict who will move on to the second round. Sweet concluded his thoughts by stating:

“This series has the potential to go the distance based on recent playoff series between both teams. May the best team win and advance to take on the Winnipeg Jets.”

Of course, anything can happen in the 2025 NHL playoffs. While we assume the Jets will bulldoze the St. Louis Blues, there’s always the chance the Blues upset the Presidents’ Trophy winners.

Anything can happen, so stay tuned.

(A huge shoutout to Brian Sweet at Blackout Dallas for his insights. You can follow his work here https://blackoutdallas.com/)