Colorado expected a long, grueling series against Winnipeg, but instead had its way with the Jets.
The Avs know they’re in one now against Dallas, and they’re going to have to dig in and outlast the Stars.
“They’re both really good hockey teams,” Avs defenseman Devon Toews said. “(Stars goalie Jake Oettinger) is playing really well. They swarm even harder than Winnipeg does down low. Their forwards have a lot of speed and skill, and they’re just a very structured team.”
Jared Bednar and his players felt better about the Game 3 effort a day later, but the Stars still have control of the series after a 4-1 win at Ball Arena. Dallas has regained home-ice advantage.
Colorado now must win three of its next four games, or a season with championship aspirations will end far sooner than anyone in the organization expected.
“We’ve been prepared for (a long series) the whole time, and against Winnipeg too,” Bednar said. “We were able to sort of break through and stay with it long enough and have some success but, they’re all still hard-fought games, all of them.”
The Jets were the joint-best defensive team in the NHL during the regular season, finishing tied with the Florida Panthers for the fewest goals allowed. Dallas has proven to be better at disrupting what Colorado, the best offense in the regular season, wants to do.
Bednar’s team had far more of the puck in Game 3, but struggled to find the same quality of scoring opportunities as it did against the Jets. And when the Avs have created them, Oettinger has done a better job of keeping the puck out of his net than Connor Hellebuyck did.
They’re both among the best goalies in the sport. Hellebuyck had a far better regular season. Oettinger has a better track record recently in the playoffs.
“I think generally when we create that amount of expected goals for, we come up with more than one goal — usually probably in the three or four range,” Bednar said. “And we were unable to do that last night. I think we can make it tougher on Oettinger at the net front. We got boxed out to the side of the net quite a bit on some high-danger looks where we could break his sight line.”
The obvious upgrade in competition from the Jets to the Stars is on the blue line. Winnipeg had strong depth up front and a great goaltender, but if the two teams’ defense corps were put together for a quick draft, five of the Stars blueliners might go in the top six picks.
When the Stars are able to force the Avs to dump the puck into the offensive zone, Dallas’ defense corps is better at getting the puck out of danger than Winnipeg was. Miro Heiskanen is one of the best defensemen in the world, but he also has a lot of help from emerging young star Thomas Harley next to him, plus Esa Lindell, Chris Tanev and Ryan Suter are all quality puck movers.
“You might not get it back on your first time in if they’re just gonna grab it and throw it back out,” Bednar said. “You’re not going to come up with it every time, but it still gives us the opportunity to get it back in the neutral zone and turn it back on them and do it again. And if we find room off the rush, then we’ve got to take advantage of it and use it.
“… You have to be patient. You’ve got to be disciplined, and be really mature about it. That’s where I felt we got better in last night’s game than we were in Game 1 and 2.”
Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon (29) heads to the net in front of Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger (29) against Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen (4) in the third period of Game 3 of the second round of the 2024 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs in Denver on Saturday, May 11, 2024. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
On one hand, the Avs feel pretty good about how they controlled play in Game 3. On the other, Colorado has not held a lead during the run of play in this series.
The Avs broke the Jets’ ability to prevent goals at an elite level. They might not be able to do that against the Stars. This series could turn into a war of attrition, and the Avs might need it to if they are going to win it.
“Each series is different,” Avs forward Ross Colton said. “There’s going to be ups and downs. I think there’s great leaders and coaches in here to kind of keep everyone even keel.
“Their game plan is to kind of just chip it out and try to force us to make a mistake. We just have to keep playing the right way.”
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