Two teams will enter American Airlines Center on Sunday night in full belief they will win 13 more games this season. One of them has already won its last, but just doesn’t know it yet.
Here are four keys for the Avs to add more accomplishments to their communal legacy: A Game 7 win. A true series comeback. Dealing Dallas head coach Pete DeBoer the first Game 7 loss of his career (8-0).
1. Great expectations: The winner of Game 7 will be one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup. The loser will be referenced as one of the NHL’s best “what could have been” clubs. That’s just a portion of the immediate stakes at hand for the Avalanche and Stars. Game 7 is always an event with incredible pressure. This one has plenty of added context. The Avs have not won a Game 7 since 2002. Colorado’s six straight losses is tied for the most in league history. The current team doesn’t care about 2003, or 2014 for that matter. But this core group has its own demons to slay. Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Gabe Landeskog and Co. have never won a Game 7. It’s four for MacKinnon, three each for Makar and Landeskog. They’ve also never won a series together when they didn’t lead it 3-0 or 3-1.
2. Get to the blue paint: For much of the past two postseasons, the Stars have been effective at keeping the Avs away from the dangerous scoring areas. Colorado had 63 high-danger scoring chances at 5-on-5 in the six-game series last year. The Avs had 17 in the first two games of this series. That’s 10 per game, for eight contests. They’ve started to crack the code. The Avs have had at least 15 in each of the past four games, though, including 19 in Game 4 and 21 in Game 7. The Stars drive the puck and bodies toward the front of the net. It’s in their DNA. That’s always how the Avs operate, but they’re going to need more of that Saturday night.
3. Discipline: The favorableness of the whistle has been a talking point for both sides in this series. Colorado didn’t like the officiating in Game 5. DeBoer went after the guys in stripes unprompted after Game 6, obviously trying to send a message ahead of Game 7. Game 7s are like snowflakes, but taking penalties early is a recipe for disaster. The AAC crowd is going to air its grievances early and often, so the Avs can’t make it easy on the officials by committing obvious infractions.
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