Stars vs. Avs Game 4 Preview: Dallas Looks for Repeat Performance to Take Commanding Series Lead

Stephen Kerr

May 13, 2024, 17:36

Stephen Kerr

May 13, 2024, 17:36

Coming off an impressive 4-1 victory in Denver on Saturday, the Stars could take a commanding 3-1 lead in the series Monday night.

Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports - Stars vs. Avs Game 4 Preview: Dallas Looks for Repeat Performance to Take Commanding Series Lead

Coaches and players often talk about playing the perfect game. It's a nearly impossible task to accomplish over 60 minutes of hockey, particularly in the playoffs when the stakes are higher and the suspense even bigger.

The Dallas Stars may not have played the absolute perfect game on Saturday in Denver against the Colorado Avalanche, but it was close enough to earn a 4-1 victory and a 2-1 lead in the second-round series. Timely scoring, great penalty-killing, tight defense and clutch goaltending all contributed to an impressive performance by the best road team in the NHL against the best home team.

"I don't think a coach has ever seen a perfect game, but that's as close to a perfect road game as you can play in my mind coming into this situation," Stars head coach Pete DeBoer said after the game. "We knew they were going to come out guns a-blazing in the first period. You knew their home record. You knew they had challenged their best players, their coach did after last game. So we knew we were going to get a lot thrown at us early in that game."

The Stars were 2-1 on the road in the post-season coming into Saturday's game, while the Avalanche had yet to lose at home in two games over the Winnipeg Jets at Ball Arena. On top of a raucous road crowd, Dallas would have to contend with a higher altitude in Denver.

But if there's one thing the Stars have demonstrated throughout the season and in the playoffs, it's the ability to blot out the noise and keep their composure.

They knew it wouldn't be easy, and it wasn't. The Avs tilted the ice to their advantage in the first period, drawing three power play opportunities against a normally disciplined Stars team. They also had a 4-on-4 situation after roughing calls against the Stars' Ryan Suter and Colorado's Miles Wood.

The Avs outshot Dallas 11-5 in the opening frame, but it was Dallas who scored first. Logan Stankoven broke a 21-game goalless streak with the first playoff goal of his NHL career at 18:39 for a 1-0 Dallas lead.

Mikko Rantanen tied it for the Avalanche at 10:24 of the second, but Tyler Seguin would score what would be the game-winner at the 15:13 mark to put the Stars back in front 2-1.

Both Stankoven and Seguin would add empty-net goals late in the third, and Dallas took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Special Teams Were Truly Special

It's highly unusual for the Stars to play undisciplined hockey. Of the seven penalties called in the first period, five were against Dallas, a team that boasted the fewest penalty minutes during the regular season. The penalty-kill unit, which gave up two goals against the Avalanche in Game 1, slammed the door in Game 3 and hasn't allowed a power play goal since. Even with three chances in the first period, Colorado was unable to capitalize on the power play.

"One of the best power plays in the league, for sure," Stars goalie Jake Oettinger said of the Avalanche. "The guys blocking shots and doing those little plays, I feel like right now I know what I'm going to be getting, so that's obviously a good feeling... It's a huge part of the game this time of year."

Dallas was unable to take advantage of the one power play opportunity they had, but didn't commit another penalty after the first period.

Oettinger Was On

Jake Oettinger stopped 28 of Colorado's 29 shots in the game, including 11 in the first period. The Stars netminder was under constant pressure during Colorado's power play chances in the first, but refused to budge.

With his performance, Oettinger continued to show why he is especially clutch on the road. Through four games away from home this post-season, he is 3-1 with a 1.42 goals-against average and .952 save percentage. He became the sixth goalie in franchise history to make at least 1,000 saves in the playoffs. He now has 1,001 for his career, trailing Ed Belfour (1,800), Marty Turco (1,193), Gilles Meloche (1,139), Cesare Maniago (1,026) and Jon Casey (1,016).

"Words don't do justice for a guy like 'Jakey'," forward Tyler Seguin, who has nine goals against Colorado this season, including the playoffs, said. "He knows the atmosphere and the start they were going to have. We needed him, and he always seems to rise to the occasion."

Lockdown Defense

The biggest reason Dallas aggressively pursued Chris Tanev at the trade deadline was for his shot-blocking and keeping opponents away from the net.

Tanev has delivered, and no more so than in Game 3. In 24:11 of TOI, the defenseman blocked five shots and dished out four hits. He also had one of the biggest plays of the game after blocking Nathan MacKinnon's one-timer toward an empty net in the first period.

The entire Stars' defense was spectacular. Suter and Jamie Benn both jumped in to stop a MacKinnon redirect that rolled slowly toward the crease. In the third period, the Stars didn't allow a goal to a team that had 17 in the previous seven playoff games during that frame.

"Throughout the regular season, you saw how good of a comeback team they are," Stankoven said. "I think tonight we were super-committed to not letting them get a sniff there in the third. They're a really momentum-based team. Once they get one and the building gets going, things can turn."

That will be the Stars' biggest challenge in Game 4: keeping the Avs from taking back the momentum and evening the series heading back to Dallas Wednesday. Dallas has yet to play from behind this series, and that will be tough to maintain against the highest-scoring team in the league. If they can't play a perfect game, they'll need to get another near-perfect one.