Avalanche Roundtable: Colorado versus Dallas

If the season ever gets back underway, it’s likely they move straight into the postseason. Assuming they use the standings from the end of the year and try to play all four rounds, that would slate Colorado against the Dallas Stars, a team they went 0-2-2 against during the regular season.

This is a natural segue into today’s topic: If Colorado and Dallas kicked off the postseason, how do you think it would go?

AJ: When it comes to best-of-seven, I always favor the team with the raw talent advantage. Colorado has superstar talent that Dallas just doesn’t. Jamie Benn’s decline has been pretty consistent and Tyler Seguin never took much of a leap when the scoring around the league exploded. There are some good players in Dallas but the high-end talent in this matchup mostly resides in Colorado. The depth favors the Avs, too, both on offense and defense. The real question mark is in net, where Ben Bishop has been excellent in his Stars tenure and we aren’t even 100% confident who the goaltender would be for Colorado in Game 1.

The time off would seem to help Dallas because they were in a full-blown tailspin before the league shut down but goaltending is also the hardest thing to get up to speed at full tilt, so their biggest strength would be a work in progress. I just like Colorado here, though I think it would be a good series of at least six games.

Evan: I would take Avs, but I think it would be close in six or seven. Dallas was struggling big-time before the league shut down, so I think the break might have saved them in that way. They’re like a poor man’s St. Louis in that they want to grind you down, and I think that’s why the Avs struggled with them in the regular season and why the series would be tight. Goaltending is going to be off if it does happen, due to the extended break, but that would be the case for both teams.

I know a lot is made of Bishop, but just like the Avs, the Stars have another goalie they can go too if needed (who actually had better numbers this year). In the end, I would take the Avs’ high-end firepower over what Dallas has, but I do think Dallas would still be able to pull out a few games at the very least. It’s still a good team, but some of their stars have taken steps back and can’t match the likes of a healthy MacKinnon or Rantanen.

Rudo: Avs in five. A fully healthy Avalanche team that understands who they are should simply outmatch Dallas. Goaltending is always the last thing to lock in after the long offseason which is essentially what this has been if not worse as far as players being off the ice. The Stars just don’t have the scoring to keep up, particularly in their depth.

The lack of a regular-season win for Colorado against Dallas is pretty flukey. The Stars caught them in two games on their first slide of the season which included some oddities such as a broken stick goal that counted. The third game was a travel back to back for the Avs that they dragged to a shootout and the final loss was in that low stretch of January before the goalies had gotten back up on the horse.

The Stars’ heavy structure game is not only one that will suffer from the time off but it’s one that can be picked apart in a series. If Bishop doesn’t do wizard things, Dallas can’t hang.