Following an exciting 6–3 victory over the Dallas Stars in Game Five to extend the series and avoid elimination, the Colorado Avalanche will be looking to force a pivotal Game Seven when they take on the Stars Wednesday at 6 p.m.
With both Philipp Grubauer and Pavel Francouz out of the lineup, the Avalanche went with Michael Hutchinson in Game Five, with Hunter Miska as the backup. While Hutchinson did make a few solid saves later in the game, the Avalanche made a statement by scoring five goals in the first period to help come away with the 6–3 victory.
Avs forwards Nathan MacKinnon tallied two points (one goal, one assist) in the 6–3 victory over the Stars, extending his playoff point streak to 13 games. MacKinnon currently leads the league with 23 points (eight goals,15 assists). Along with MacKinnon, Andre Burakovsky had himself a strong night, tallying three points (two goals, one assist) in the victory.
Along with MacKinnon, some of the other Avs who currently ride their own respective point streaks are Mikko Rantanen (eight games), Cale Makar (four games), Burakovsky (three games) and Nazem Kadri (three games).
🔙 to a 4 goal lead!#NHLonSN pic.twitter.com/6DHubIQgJo
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) September 1, 2020
According to Colorado head coach Jared Bednar, the Avs are still “grumpy” about where they stand in the series, which is exactly how they were heading into Game Five. With Bednar keeping his roster plans under lock and key, no one really has a solid idea of what the roster will look like against the stars for Game Six.
Bednar says the #Avs still remain grumpy and are not happy with where they remain in the series. #Avs
— Ryan S. Clark (@ryan_s_clark) September 2, 2020
I usually do a player, or players, to watch section here, but honestly, this is going to come down to so many different factors it is hard to just pick one particular player from each team. Expect the Avalanche to come out similar to how they came out in Game Five—pissed off and absolutely flying. On the other side, I think we can all expect the Stars to expect this from the Avs, and they will continue to try to have a physical presence throughout the game.