The Dallas Stars will face the Colorado Avalanche tonight at 8:30 p.m., and a victory would give them a chance to advance into the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Dallas is coming off a dominant win in Game 5 to take a 3-2 series advantage, but the team will now face the difficult task of eliminating the Avalanche on their home ice.
The biggest key to victory in this matchup will be maintaining the physicality from Game 5, in which Dallas dominated the Avalanche en route to a comfortable victory.
Dallas has proven that this team can be amongst the best in the league when playing at their best, but they have not always shown up when the lights are the brightest this season.
The Stars had an opportunity to take control even earlier in the series after taking a 2-1 series lead, but the team seemingly struggled to find a rhythm in Game 4 and was taken down by the Avalanche.
Stars coach Pete Deboer said Dallas took their foot off the gas during that game, noting that the team must expect an even better performance from Colorado in Game 6 to steal a win on the road.
“As good as they were in Game 4, we’re going to get that same game from them again. I’m sure of it. The challenge for us is to make sure we don’t take a deep breath here like we did after Game 3 and just hope to win. We’ve going to show up there and have a version of how we played tonight and hopefully earn a win in there,” explained DeBoer, according to NHL.com.
When asked about what needs to happen for Dallas to close out the series, Stars forward Wyatt Johnston said the team must focus on playing their style of hockey.
“Come out and put our best game forward. We know that they’re going to come out with their best. Their season is on the line and it’s really crucial to be able to put teams away with how long the grind of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is. We don’t want to look too far ahead, but the goal is to win the Stanley Cup, so it helps to put teams away when you have the opportunity. For us, just be ready for us to play our best possible game and best game of the series. We know they’ll be coming out really strong with their best,” he said, per NHL.com.
A win in Game 6 would set the Stars up for a round two series against either the Winnipeg Jets or the St. Louis Blues, with the Jets currently leading St. Louis in that series 3-2.