Stop if you’ve heard this before: The game between the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars had to be settled in a shootout.

For the third time this season not even overtime was enough to settle the score between these two evenly matched teams. In each meeting this regular season the visiting team has won in a shootout with Dallas taking home the 2-1 victory in this contest.

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With the fourth and final regular season match on deck on April 4th in Dallas, guess it’s Colorado’s turn to win then? But for now Dallas leaves the state with the upper hand, now two points back of Colorado for the Central division lead.

The Game

It was perhaps the biggest game the Colorado Avalanche have played in the entire 2025-26 season and felt like it. From the drop of the puck it was evident there was an intense focus and playoff-type determination as both teams knew how important this game was. The action reflected that, though maybe not as much on the scoreboard. Despite only eight total shots in the first period there was back-and-forth action with a lot of blocked shots and hits to disrupt play and limit shots on net. Each team earned a power play as well with the Avalanche cashing in on theirs with Cale Makar’s 20th goal on the season to give Colorado the 1-0 lead at the first intermission.

Dallas made a more concerted effort to generate offense in the second period and it paid off for them when Jason Robertson netted the equalizer. Colorado almost got lucky twice with a puck that hit off the far post and rebounded right to Robertson. Scott Wedgewood almost deflected the puck with the end of his stick but the Star got enough on the shot to put it in the net. The rest of the period featured few stoppages and then Colorado found some momentum near the end of the period after Dallas failed to clear the defensive zone multiple times. Still, the period ended in a 1-1 tie going into the second intermission.

Despite the third period starting with a 4-on-4 and each teams trading yet another unsuccessful power plays, there was no score in the third period as the 1-1 tie held into the extra frame. Dallas outshot Colorado 4-3 in overtime but both Scott Wedgewood and Jake Oettinger stood tall.

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So a shoutout was needed to break this stalemate yet again. For Colorado Val Nichushkin, Martin Nečas and Nathan MacKinnon missed on their shots. Wedgewood made a great save on Jason Robertson, then on Matt Duchene but Wyatt Johnston picked the top corner on Wedgewood to send Dallas home with the 2-1 victory.

Takeaways

The 11 forwards/7 defensemen experiment ended after Nathan MacKinnon was critical of the setup. Ivan Ivan, who truly has been the only forward to remain healthy (knock on wood) for the Colorado Eagles, was recalled to fill the extra forward position. It really didn’t matter who got the call in the end because together with Gavin Brindley and Zakhar Bardakov the trio played an irrelevant three minutes in this contest.

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Another close game against a playoff team sets up a more intriguing than expected final 15 games of the regular season as the Avalanche hope to clinch the top seed and Presidents’ Trophy.

Upcoming

The start of a long four-game east coast road trip with the first stop at the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday, March 20th. Puck drop is at 6:30 p.m. MT.