Everything you need to know before Avalanche vs Stars

The Colorado Avalanche have back-to-back matchups versus the Dallas Stars, one of the biggest growing rivalries over the recent years. Colorado Avalanche are going to have to dig deep to take advantage of this back-to-back and put Dallas even further down in the standings. Welcome to Avalanche Digest, I'm Copeland Jones. Before we get started, as always, don't forget to subscribe. 80% of you are not subscribed, it's completely free, and you get daily updates on the Colorado Avalanche. All right, let's get right into it. So Martin Hase is going to be the key to this game. He targets Dallas again He does pretty well against them in the few matchups he's had against them He averages 1.6 points per game against Dallas and currently is at one point per game on this season I'd like to see him turn up the point production a little bit He kind of fell off over the last two games. We'd like to see that top line It really worked Nathan MacKinnon has been doing well but the rest of the guys in that top line have not met that consistency just yet they're getting there it's early in the season but there is still a little bit to go so Martin H is so far this season has five total points two goals three assists uh plus one plus minus 100 on the face off percentage probably has only taken 115 shots on goal five even strength points and one game winning goal so the power play points there are a bit of a concern there and much is the entire power play the entire first unit of the power play has only produced one or two goals for us in total i believe it's only one but i think Nate just really is the really is the guy that is going to get things done for us so over the whole first five games of the season he just has the one point against the Kings three against the Blues blanked against Winnipeg and Calgary and he had one point against Toronto Nate just is going to be a big deal for this considering that Nathan MacKinnon is probably going to be attempted to be taken out of the game not by not i mean like injury wise but he's probably going to get taken out of the game by a lot of the block shots the defenders a lot of the guys cheating over to make sure that he is covered but guys like Mikko Rantanen and Jason Robertson Robertson are going to basically be one-on-one matched up with Natchez and McKinnon and i feel like that Natchez has the best match up there McKinnon is going to be Wyatt Johnson is also going to be shadowing him a lot of the game and their top pair defense is still pretty good it's Dallas we know exactly how they play they play really locked up and they play for cycling in our offensive zone but they also definitely lock up a lot on the back side to try and prevent any shots on goal so two nights in a row for us against Dallas one in Dallas one at home I am currently going to the game tonight so I will not be able to live stream that one The goal is to live stream the game tomorrow night, depending on how quick I get home. So I will update y'all on the community board before we get that started. But the goal is to live stream tomorrow night for the Dallas Avs home game. So here is what the Central Division looks like right now. In the top three, we have Minnesota, Utah, Winnipeg, Colorado in that last wildcard spot. As of right now, three and two with six total points. Dallas is down with five total points, two, two, and one. So we're ahead of them by one or half a point or half a game right now. But we can definitely put Dallas even further back. If we win two games in regulation, that would be really a statement win because that will propel us up five points total on Dallas. If we let them hang around, nothing is really going to change. This is also a great statement because we play them four times total this season and we're knocking out the first two really early on and getting them out of the way. And I think that's going to be big for how the rest of this season is going to set up against them all righty so dallas is going to test our top line nathan MacKinnon is going to need to work really hard this game he's gonna have to put pucks on net and against dallas they're able to hold him a little bit on that so far this season he is averaging 4.6 shots per game but his last eight meetings against dallas he has only averaged four they've been able to kind of block his shots keep him from getting pucks on net and a lot of that has to do with Dallas's tight defending in front of the net. The Avs really are going to have to go for deflections. They're going to have to find some backdoor passes. They're going to have to get really crafty and creative with it as time goes on. Another big player in this matchup is Cale Makar. Cale Makar statistically has not been the best at point production when it comes to playing against the Dallas Stars. Only 0.8 points per game against Dallas. So far this season, he's at a positive 1.4 on points per game. So hopefully he can keep that trend and absolutely find a stride here in this game against Dallas. So our projected goaltender tonight is Mackenzie Blackwood. Here's our projected lineup. We have Landeskog, MacKinnon, Natchez on the top line, Lehkonen, Nelson, and Kadri. I think Lehkonen and Landeskog are probably going to switch there, but this is what's listed on the website as of now. Jaden Schwartz, Svechnikov, TJ Hughes, Nick Waugh, Zachary Liewe, Parker Kelly. Still no Logan O'Connor. There's no timetable on his return just yet. Devon Toews, Cale Makar is the top pair. Brett Kulak, Sam Malinsky as the second pair. And Josh Manson and Brent Burns. Scott Wedgwood is probably going to get the start tomorrow. And I don't necessarily disagree with that decision there. But here is what Dallas' projected lineup is. Jason Robertson, Wyatt Johnson, and Nico Rantanen. Arguably one of the best top lines in the NHL rivals. our own. It's pretty good. Joel Kiviranta and Roope Hintz and Jamie Benn on the second line. That sounds more like a third line to me. This may not be entirely correct here. Tyler Seguin, Roope Hintz, and I don't even, Tyrae, I don't know how to pronounce that guy's name, but Oscar Bach, Foxa, and Steele on the bottom line. Essa Lindell with Miro Heiskanen, Thomas Harley, and Lundqvist, and Bichelle and Tyler Myers, Jake Oettinger who has had a fantastic start to the season we are going to really have to look out for him speaking of Jake Oettinger this goalie tandem is going to give us some fits i'm sure it is Jake Oettinger has had two days of rest he is at .963 save percentage which is absolutely fantastic for Dallas they did not get a great start on this season because their point production wasn't there but when your goaltender is keeping pucks out of the net you can perform pretty well Casey DeSmith has gotten a lot of rest he's probably going to face us at some point his goals against average right now is 0.74 for his two wins two shutouts 8-9-63 on four games played four games started 79 saves on 82 shots against so only three goals against this season not a great look for the Avs that are really a pound the puck into the net kind of team and we ran into this against Toronto Toronto was able to keep pucks out and we weren't able to do the same. So the Avs are going to have to find an answer for the Dallas offense while at the same time trying to solve the Rubik's Cube that is Jake Oettinger in net. We have done it before, but he is very inconsistently inconsistent. Sometimes he's really at the top of his game and you can't get it past him. Sometimes you can throw a puck on net and somehow it'll squeak through. Jake Oettinger goes on these streaks and I don't exactly understand it. During the playoffs last year he wasn't that great that's why they were knocked out by Minnesota and the last couple of times we played against Dallas it has been kind of a high scoring affair so I'm looking forward to see if we can solve Jake Oettinger early on in the game today definitely make a more fun game for me to experience being there in person all right here is the Avs goalie rest situation Mackenzie Blackwood is getting a start tonight he's on two days rest .866 a percentage not a great showing for him so far Wedgewood only with the one start .897 save percentage with four days of rest he'll get the home start hopefully the more rested goalie will get the better home start I'm guessing that's what Bednar is doing there Blackwood really needs to step things up I'd like to see him post a .900 or better save percentage in the game tonight I think that would single-handedly help the Avs win tonight and that among the Avs putting and two to three goals in net against Ottinger I think the Avs really need special teams help it's going to be absolutely key to solving this matchup so the Avs power play is 22.2 don't let that fool you they are oh for their last however many they've had since game two the Avs have not scored on the power play since the game against the LA Kings penalty kill is 85.7 they gave up their first two power play goals to to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the last game so penalty kill needs to tighten up and so does the power play power play needs to get things together I necessarily think that I I like this experiment with TJ Hughes in the bumper slot but they're not really using him in the bumper slot which is why I'd like to see the Avs go back to having a guy like Brock Nelson or Arturi Leik Lehkonen in that spot and let TJ Hughes work with the second unit having him on the top line is great opportunity for a young guy but don't necessarily think for production purposes he definitely needs to be in there here's what Dallas's special teams are looking like right now 7.7 percent on the power play 30th in the NHL but the penalty kill is still pretty elite for them 88.2 percent I think they've only converted on one power play so far this year as are going to have to make sure that it stays that way there's probably going to be a handful of penalties in this game there usually is between these two teams because they do not like each other and i am definitely banking on a fight probably between Larue and one of the third or fourth line guys on the Dallas Stars so after the first game the Avs are going to have to use last change to find favorable matchups keep support close on tired defensive shifts and move the puck before Dallas sets its coverage and give Naitas routes into dangerous spaces the Avs are really going to have to use their speed i know that that Dallas likes to clog up the neutral zone and keep speed from generating into the offensive zone so the Avs are definitely going to have to find ways around that gonna have to find ways to throw the puck in the zone that are able to get guys in position set up a cycle because once the Avs get moving they definitely can score all righty so how will Colorado finish the back-to-back road trip to home trip will the Avs sweep will they split the two games or will Dallas win both i'm hoping we sweep i know we probably at some point we might get a win and then one game will probably go to overtime so who knows what that one will finish up uh last game i went to in Dallas ended up being a shootout win that Wedgewood definitely saved the day on that one i think the Avs have a good opportunity here to get a great jump on the standings to the Dallas Stars, thank you very much for watching, let's watch some hockey the next two nights and go Abs, thank you very much