The Dallas Stars took down the Colorado Avalanche 5-3 on Friday night in a rematch of the second round of the 2024 NHL Playoffs.
Dallas opened the game hot, taking a 2-1 lead at the end of the first period. A dominant second period helped the Stars take a 4-1 lead heading into the final 20 minutes of action.
Although the Avalanche scored two goals in the third period to keep the game close, the Stars added one more goal to stave off Colorado’s potential comeback.
The Stars were coming off two straight losses to the Carolina Hurricanes and a brutal loss to the Chicago Blackhawks earlier in the week, who had the worst record in the NHL leading into that game.
Taking down the Avalanche allowed the Stars to get back in the win column while avoiding a three-game losing streak, which has only happened four times since Peter DeBoer took over in 2022, according to DMN’s Lia Assimakopoulos.
Deboer discussed the two straight losses heading into this game and described Friday’s game as a “Big win, especially considering the circumstances.”
“We needed to stop the bleeding of the last two games. Coming home, divisional team – Colorado has obviously turned it around after their start, they’re healthy again, all of their big guys are back in, so a lot of positives, a big win,” he added, per NHL.com.
After the game, Stars’ forward Mason Marchment said the win would be incredibly beneficial for the standings, as Dallas sits only slightly ahead of the Avalanche in the Western Conference.
“They’re right behind us in the standings, so we have to win these ones. We have another big one coming up [against Winnipeg on Sunday]. We just have to flush this one and get right back after it,” Marchment said, per NHL.com.
Dallas has now climbed up the NHL standings to sit in fifth place in the Western Conference with an opportunity to move further up in these standings with a small winning streak in the coming games.
The Stars sit just one point behind the Los Angeles Kings for fourth place in the conference and only five points behind the Vegas Golden Knights for third place, meaning a winning streak of three to four games could result in another climb up the standings.
