Any Central Division matchup between the top 3 teams is must-watch television, and the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars are facing off on a Saturday afternoon in a possible second-round playoff preview. Both teams have been struggling over their past 10 games, but that’s what happens when the top three of that division have been decided for most of the season. I think both teams will show up to deliver a great game on Saturday.
The Avalanche will be extra motivated to put forth a good effort in this game, as their last appearance was an 8-6 loss to the league’s worst team — the Vancouver Canucks. The Avalanche put themselves in a hole early, rallied for a 3-goal comeback in the third and then gave it right back to lose in a high-scoring affair. The goaltending has been a massive question mark over the past couple of weeks, and shutting down the Stars would go a long way to ending those fears.
The Stars might be coming off a win, but they’ve been struggling as of late with an injury-depleted group. Tyler Seguin, Radek Faksa, Roope Hintz, Sam Steel, Michael Bunting and Tyler Myers are all solid pieces of the lineup, and Myers is the only one who might be available for this game. Dallas needs to get a few of these bodies back before their suspected first-round matchup with the Minnesota Wild. The Avalanche will miss Cale Makar, but the rest of their lineup will find a way to bounce back from their most recent loss. There aren’t many more times this year you’ll be able to get the Avalanche at such a favorable number.
Avalanche vs Stars prediction: Colorado ML (-115) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.Â