NHL
NHL Playoffs
DALLAS — No, Gary Bettman will not be in the building awarding the Stanley Cup on Saturday night. It just feels that way.
Sometimes, the script holds. What a series.
Colorado-Dallas had seven games written all over it the moment that matchup was locked in, and that’s exactly what both bona fide Stanley Cup contenders have delivered us.
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The best series of the NHL’s opening round is going the distance. Well, duh, of course.
“It has been great hockey,” Sidney Crosby, watching from afar, told The Athletic via email. “Fast, physical and both teams have had times of controlling momentum. Top players have contributed and goalies have had their moments of making big, key saves. It’s playoff hockey and only fitting it would go seven games between two solid teams like this.’’
Everyone involved in the series can appreciate what they’ve been part of heading into Game 7.
“For sure, two very tough, hard-fought teams that want it,’’ said Avs superstar defenseman Cale Makar. “You look at the standings, obviously tight standings coming into the playoffs. That’s just the way the format is. You’re going to have to beat really good teams every single round. Dallas is obviously incredibly stacked. We knew that coming in. It wasn’t going to be an easy series regardless of being up or down.
“So, I don’t think there was a world where this wasn’t going seven,’’ he added.
Saturday night at American Airlines Arena, one of these teams will be gone way too early based on their own expectations.
So much on the line.
The Stars win and head coach Peter DeBoer improves to 9-0 all-time in Game 7s. I guess that makes him the Justin Williams of coaching.
“I’d rather win in six,’’ DeBoer said in deflecting from his Game 7 record.
“My record, honestly … Jared Bednar and I are not going to have a big impact on this game,’’ added the Stars coach. “The players are going to decide that. Both teams know each other. It’s who goes out and executes and gets big games from the right guys.’’
The Avalanche prevail Saturday and they will have won their first seven-game series since the spring of 2002, when Makar was 3 years old.
The Stars have been knocking at the door for five years, Stanley Cup finalists in 2020, conference finalists in 2023 and 2024. Is it finally their time?
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The Avs looked destined for multiple Cup titles after winning it all in 2022, but have won only one playoff series since. This is the kind of quality series win that could propel them back where they belong.
Both these teams can win the Cup. One goes home Saturday night.
There have been amazing individual storylines. Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog has four points (one goal, three assists) in four playoff games playing a top-six role after his three-year hiatus, a stunning level of play by any possible measure. It’s been breathtaking to witness.
Former Avs star Mikko Rantanen has come alive with back-to-back monster games. He’s got seven points (two goals, five assists) in the last two games for Dallas after feeling the heat for just one assist in the opening four games. I mean, it’s the Mikko Rantanen bowl — we needed the central figure to show up and boy has he ever.
With his team’s season on the line, Miro Heiskanen won’t get to wear a Superman cape for Game 7. The Stars’ No. 1 defenseman was ruled out by DeBoer on Friday evening in his media update with reporters at the airport after the team’s travel got delayed by weather. Heiskanen skated in every single team session since the start of the series, and the coach kept saying he was getting closer. What I wondered all along is whether the Stars would break glass in case of emergency and bring No. 4 back, and Game 7 is an emergency. But obviously he’s not there yet. So Dallas will try to win the series as they’ve played the entire series so far: without their most important defender, who was such a difference-maker in the six-game series win over the Avs a year ago.
As such, the Stars’ best chance is not to get into another track meet like Thursday night’s ridiculous game, won 7-4 by the Avalanche. That Formula One race fed right into Colorado’s preferred style.
It’s not what Dallas wants again in Game 7.
“Of course not, but we’re down 2-0 five minutes in (to Game 6),’’ DeBoer said. “You don’t have a choice but to open it up.’’
In the meantime, the veteran coach has tried to stay on a certain narrative all series long and went there again postgame Thursday night, saying that his team is the underdog.
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“No one gave us a chance to win this series,’’ said DeBoer. “Here we are with one game at home to advance. That’s a great situation to be in.’’
Before the series, I quoted anonymous coaches and team executives from the league for their prediction on this series; 10 of 12 picked the Avalanche. DeBoer was clearly aware of it based on an interaction we had earlier in the series. It was surprisingly a one-sided poll given the quality of both teams, although the Heiskanen factor was an obvious part of it (along with the loss of Jason Robertson).
I circled back to those same 12 coaches/team execs Friday ahead of Game 7 to see if any of them wanted to change their mind or stick with their original pick.
All 10 who picked Colorado stayed loyal to their pick, but some of them with less conviction, noting that Dallas was at home for Game 7. But there wasn’t enough overwhelming evidence for them to swap the pick.
“I will stick with it (picking the Avs), but I have been very impressed with the Dallas effort without Heiskanen,’’ said one coach via text.
“I’ve still got Colorado — my only hesitation is DeBoer’s record in Game 7s, but I think this is the year he loses his first,’’ said a team executive via text. “Colorado played well at home and I think that momentum carries over to Game 7 in Dallas. MacKinnon and Makar will be on top of their game and with Nichushkin starting to heat up, I think they will take it.’’
Added another team executive who picked Colorado two weeks ago, via text message: “No change here. Despite DeBoer’s flawless G7 record.’’
Both people who picked Dallas also stayed loyal to their picks despite being offered a chance to change them ahead of Game 7.
“Sticking with (the Stars). Been a fabulous series. Dallas 3-2 in OT,’’ texted one team executive.
“Game 7s are always a toss-up because the margins for error diminish significantly for both teams,’’ texted the other team executive who had picked Dallas two weeks ago. “Nonetheless, I feel that Dallas will draw from the energy of the crowd at American Airlines Center and will ride a strong performance from (Jake) Oettinger to victory.’’
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So, still 10-2 in favor of the Avs even after witnessing what’s transpired through six games.
To me, it’s a coin flip. Really interesting how these smart hockey people still overwhelmingly picked the Avalanche.
DeBoer has been around the block, which is why he grabbed hold of that sentiment before the series, and I suspect he has brought it up in team meetings with players. And he’s brought it up a few times with the media during the series, doing it again postgame Thursday night ahead of Game 7.
“Didn’t they finish third overall in the league?’’ asked Bednar with a smile when told of DeBoer’s comments.
Actually, Dallas was fifth overall. But yeah.
“You build a narrative for your team to grab onto,’’ added Bednar of DeBoer and the Stars. “Listen, they’re playing without Heiskanen and they’re playing without Robertson. They’ve had other guys step up and elevate their game. They’re deep. This is a deep team. They finished where they finished for a reason. …
“They’re well-coached. But we have our own narrative too, right?,’’ added the Avalanche coach. “We feel like we’re a team that can win. But you got to go prove it. It just so happens in the new NHL, especially in the Central Division, no disrespect to the other divisions, but I look at the teams that we got to play on a regular basis and the teams you go through to just get to a conference final …’’
No question about it. There should be a title belt handed out for the winners Saturday night.
All of which is why, when the matchup said Dallas-Colorado, everyone involved understood what was coming.
“I think it’s what we were expecting all along … ’’ Bednar said.
“We’ve played them enough to know that they’re a really good team and we feel like we are too. We knew it was going to be a really tough series. There’s no use crying about it. It’s not one versus 16, or one versus eight. You’re playing top teams in the whole league right out the gate in every round if you want to get where you want to go, so you got to play your best for two-week stretches and it’s almost like survival and nothing else. You play for your life every night.’’
This is not your run-of-the-mill Game 7 Saturday night. It feels so much bigger than that.
(Photo of Charlie Coyle and Mikko Rantanen: Matthew Stockman / Getty Images)
Pierre LeBrun has been a senior NHL columnist for The Athletic since 2017. He has been an NHL Insider for TSN since 2011 following six years as a panelist on Hockey Night In Canada. He also appears regularly on RDS in Montreal. Pierre previously covered the NHL for ESPN.com and The Canadian Press. Follow Pierre on Twitter @PierreVLeBrun
