The 2024-25 season for the Colorado Avalanche came to a crashing close after their Game Seven loss to the Dallas Stars. They were up 2-0 and in control to finally defeat all their recent woes. But it all came apart in 13 minutes.

Colorado was the better team in the series at 5-on-5, but ended up on the losing end. It is not just because of bad luck, there are reasons as to why this did not work out for the burgundy and blue.

Special teams

Perhaps the biggest difference in the series was special teams. The Dallas Stars scored seven goals on the power play, whereas the Avalanche only had three. They made up with two shorthanded goals from Logan O’Connor and Josh Manson, but put themselves into too many precarious positions.

A Wyatt Johnston power-play goal ended up being the difference in the four-goal third-period comeback. They worked the puck down low brilliantly all series long, and Colorado was left scrambling around the entire time.

On the flip side, the Avs were way too predictable on the man advantage. All three goals came from Nathan MacKinnon. The first unit looked for the perfect play far too often while playing nearly the entire time. This was not a problem, not just in the postseason, but practically the entire season.

Changes must come. A lot of attention has been put on special-teams coach Ray Bennett, who is the primary runner of the power play. Not much has changed in the last few years, and it may come to a crashing end for Bennett after this season.

Missed chances at the biggest moments

Again, the Avalanche were the better team in the majority of games across the series. But when it came to crunch time, they faltered at the finish line.

It took two overtime games to beat the Avs. A bad Miles Wood turnover and defensive lapse ended Game Two. A Jonathan Drouin turnover and Cale Makar losing his man cost Game Three. Both games saw the Stars score in the third period to come from behind to force the extra period in the first place.

And of course, Game Seven.

They put themselves in these situations by not taking chances earlier on in games when they could have. Makar had the chance to put Game Seven to bed in the slot before Mikko Rantanen scored his first goal. Gabriel Landeskog was ready to play in Game Two instead of Wood, but wanted the feel-good story rather than taking a dominant 2-0 series lead home.

The “what-ifs” in the entire series will haunt Colorado for generations to come. All because they fell apart at the most important times.

Just not quite good enough goaltending

This was far from the main problem for the Avalanche. In Mackenzie Blackwood’s first playoff appearances, he was great from the get-go with 23 saves in Game One.

However, going up against one of the best goaltenders in Jake Oettinger was just a tough matchup. Blackwood ended with a 2.71 goals-against average and a save percentage of .892. Meanwhile, Oettinger was at a 2.85 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage.

The Stars managed to find the holes in Blackwood, and he was just a half-step off from adjusting. Meanwhile, Oettinger rebounded brilliantly and kept his team in games. At the same time, Colorado didn’t threaten Oettinger enough to put him out of position, and as mentioned earlier, missed lots of great chances.

Too many passengers

Ultimately, Dallas had players show up and show out when they were called upon. The Avalanche did not, as they went through the status quo, trying to advance to the second round.

Some who disappeared included Joel Kiviranta, who went pointless against his former team after a career year. Parker Kelly and Charlie Coyle only had one point, with the latter of those coming into the playoffs on an eight-game point streak.

The biggest shock was the disappearance of Makar, who only had five points in seven games. His only goal was an empty-netter in Game Six. He struggled on the back end with the puck and had costly defensive errors.

O’Connor led the team in points for some time. MacKinnon eventually passed him and ended with 11 points in seven games. But the team could not handle Rantanen scoring 11 points in the final three games of the series in a historic effort.

Meanwhile, the guys they traded for to make up for in the aggregate? Martin Necas had only five, while Jack Drury had only two.

In the end, it was an ugly loss and affair with Dallas in a series which the Avalanche should have won. Changes need to happen to keep the competitive window alive. What those changes are, lineup aside, are yet to be determined.

Whatever they are, they should be incredibly influential.