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So, last night was fun, yeah? I could get used to this whole "Avalanche winning in spectacular fashion"-thing. But I can also get excited about a matchup against the equally fast, young, and high-flying Dallas Stars. They feature some of the brightest talents in the league in Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, and John Klingberg and are second only to the Washington Capitals in scoring. Combine all that with the NHL's 3rd-best power play and the 6th-best possession statistics and you have the potential to get down by a lot of goals in a REAL hurry.
Colorado and Dallas have met just once this year, and the Avalanche's high-flying Mach-5 trapeze act beat out Dallas' offering 6-3. Gabriel Landeskog had two goals and two assist to lead all skaters. Nathan MacKinnon made himself known too with a goal and two assists himself. Cody Eakin did the damage for Dallas, scoring two goals in a losing effort.
We've witnessed the Avs settle down on defense considerably since then. In the past five games, the Burgundy & Blue have given up just five goals, and that was without their best defenseman, Erik Johnson, who will return to action tonight after missing nine games with an undisclosed lower-body injury. We've had a pretty good thing going, EJ. Don't screw this up! Blake Comeau should also return to the lineup after missing last night for the birth of his second child.
Dallas has been on a bit of a slide as of late. They had lost four straight before beating Edmonton on Thursday and figure to be challenged by a hot Avalanche team who has dominated the Stars during Lindy Ruff's tenure (1-7-3 with 4.14 goals allowed). However, they catch the Avs on the second night of a back-to-back after an overtime game last night in Denver. Should be some good hockey.
Lineup
Tanguay - MacKinnon - Duchene
Landeskog - Soderberg - Comeau
McLeod - Mitchell - Skille
Martinsen - Grigorenko - Iginla
* * *
Beauchemin - Johnson
Holden - Barrie
Bigras - Redmond
* * *
Varlamov
Pickard
Dallas-Area Music Mix (because I'm bored):
- St. Vincent - "Human Racing"
- Paper Chase - "Where Have Those Hands Been?"
- Reverend Horton Heat - "Bullet"
- Stevie Ray Vaughn - "Superstition (Steve Wonder cover)"
- Polyphonic Spree - "Soldier Girl"
- Old 97s - "Jagged"
- ZZ Top - "Under Pressure"
- Pantera - "Psycho Holiday"
- Meat Loaf - "Bat out of Hell"
- Steve Miller Band - "Abracadabra"
- Boz Skaggs - "Loan Me a Dime"