Simulating Colorado vs. Dallas Game 5 in NHL 24 Our series simulation [https://thehockeynews.com/gaming/latest-news/colorado-avalanche-vs-dallas-stars-series-prediction] had the Avalanche easily taking out the Stars in five games. Well, in real life the roles have been reversed, and Dallas has the opportunity tonight to send the 2022 Stanley Cup Champions to the golf course. Dallas will be without their No. 1 centerman Roope Hintz. Even without Hintz in the lineup, the Stars look like a formidable opponent and their depth is quite possibly the best in the NHL playoffs. Here are the lines we used for the simulation: DALLAS' PROJECTED LINES: Robertson - Seguin - Stankoven Benn - Johnston - Pavelski Marchment - Duchene - Dadonov Faksa - Steel - Smith Harley - Heiskanen Lindell - Tanev Suter - Lundkvist Oettinger Wedgewood Colorado will get their No. 2 defenceman back after Devon Toews missed Game 4. It's all hands on deck for the Avs as their season is on the line tonight in Texas. COLORADO'S PROJECTED LINES: Lehkonen - MacKinnon - Rantanen Parise - Mittelstadt - Drouin Wood - Colton - Kiviranta Duhaime - Trenin - Cogliano Toews - Makar Girard - Manson Johnson - Walker Georgiev Annunen The real life Colorado team will want to start the way the CPU Avalanche came out in the simulation. Colorado outshot Dallas 12-6 in the 1st period and Zach Parise opened the scoring just five minutes in. However, the second period wasn't so nice for the Avs. Dallas responded in a big way and scored three unanswered goals in a span of three-and-a-half minutes, led by Matt Duchene who scored twice. Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon scored on a 5-on-3 powerplay to make it a 3-2 game. But the flurries of goals in the second frame proved to be enough for Dallas as they hung on to win. Jake Oettinger has been unreal in real life for the Stars and he was the same here in our simulation making 30 saves on 32 shots. And a game-saving stop with 30 seconds left to go. MacKinnon did all he could, as we will expect to see tonight in real life, with his goal in the third and registering five shots and seven hits. Puck drop for Game 5 at the American Airlines Center is at 8pm EST.
