DENVER — It is do or die time for the Colorado Avalanche as they head home for their first elimination game of the playoffs. The Dallas Stars took a 3–2 series lead on Monday with a dominating win. Now it is time for the Avalanche to find redemption in their barn to even the series up. Game Five was a complete 180 from the previous game where the Avalanche were in the winner’s circle. Dallas Just walked through Colorado no matter what they did to shut them down. The first to draw the blood will be the last to be standing in this race.
Colorado Avalanche (2-3)
The Avalanche played a great game. They were just outmaneuvered on the mind games. Players like Jamie Benn took advantage of situations to send Josh Manson to the penalty box while Colorado does not want to play that type of game. Mason Marchment and Sam Steel have also taken advantage of situations to send Avalanche players to the box. We are not saying that Colorado has to stoop down to their level, just play a clean game and they won’t have to worry about it.
Jamie Benn. 2 minutes for running into the stick. 2 minutes for flopping.
Refs. Three game suspension for being awful at their jobs.
MacKinnon gets cross checked in the neck and no penalty but this is 2 minutes.
Clown show from zebras go figure pic.twitter.com/TE4H5dz7Po
— Tim Preston (@TimmyTebrows) April 29, 2025
If Colorado can swing the offensive momentum on the blue line to Devon Toews instead of Cale Makar, this will help. Dallas has gotten to where they are expecting a cross-ice pass to Makar and has shut it down. Flip this and it will throw them off.
Colorado goal!
Scored by Artturi Lehkonen with 07:49 remaining in the 2nd period.
Assisted by Martin Necas and Nathan MacKinnon.
Dallas: 3
Colorado: 1#COLvsDAL #TexasHockey #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/ntY3tvQUQp— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) April 29, 2025
Projected Lines
Artturi Lehkonen (62) – Nathan MacKinnon (29) – Martin Necas (88)
Gabriel Landeskog (92) – Brock Nelson (11) – Valeri Nichushkin (13)
Jonathan Drouin (27) – Charlie Coyle (10) – Joel Kiviranta (94)
Parker Kelly (17) – Jack Drury (18) – Logan O’Connor (25)
Devon Toews (7) – Cale Makar (8)
Samuel Girard (49) – Josh Manson (42)
Ryan Lindgren (55) – Sam Malinski (70)
Mackenzie Blackwood (39)
Scott Wedgewood (41)
Dallas Stars (3-2)
If someone looked at everything but goals on the stats sheet, you would think that the Stars are losing the series. The Avalanche have dominated the Stars in almost every statistical category, but the Stars have still won. Dallas knew how to get under Colorado’s skin in Game Five on Monday and the Avalanche will need to watch for that. Messy penalties by Colorado gave the Stars way too many chances, and they took advantage. If Colorado takes advantage of the first change and shuts down the foul play, Dallas won’t stand a chance.
Power play goal for Dallas!
Scored by Wyatt Johnston with 03:12 remaining in the 2nd period.
Assisted by Matt Duchene and Mikko Rantanen.
Dallas: 4
Colorado: 2#COLvsDAL #TexasHockey #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/vxIkL4t9vn— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) April 29, 2025
Projected Lines
Mikael Granlund (64) – Roope Hintz (24) – Mikko Rantanen (96)
Mason Marchment (27) – Matt Duchene (95) – Tyler Seguin (91)
Jamie Benn (14) – Wyatt Johnston (53) – Evgenii Dadonov (63)
Oskar Bäck (10) – Sam Steel (18) – Colin Blackwell (15)
Esa Lindell (23) – Cody Ceci (44)
Thomas Harley (55) – Ilya Lyubushkin (46)
Lian Bichsel (6) – Alex Petrovic (28)
Jake Oettinger (29)
Casey DeSmith (1)
Game Details
Time: 7:30 p.m. MT
Watch: TBS, MAX, truTV, Altitude, Altitude+, Victory+, SNE, SN360, TVAS
Listen: Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM
