Avalanche Pregame Notes
Avalanche at Dallas Stars Game 7: Everything On the Line — Can They Pull Through? Lines, Notes & How To Watch

The Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars finish their series tonight in an epic Game 7 for the right to advance to the second round. Puck drop is scheduled for 6:20 pm. MT.
Read More: Game 7: Avalanche Face Familiar Nightmare — and a Chance to End It — Against Mikko Rantanen’s Stars
It’s finally here. Game 7 between the Avs and Stars for all the marbles. Anything that happened before this no longer matters. The players who are or aren’t producing, the goaltending battle, the scoring chances, and the differences on the power play or penalty kill. It all comes down to what happens tonight.
For Colorado, it’s about replicating what worked at Ball Arena and taking it on the road, something head coach Jared Bednar said will be one of their priorities for Game 7. On Thursday, the Avalanche staved off elimination with an entertaining 7-4 victory. They scored the first two goals before falling behind 4-3 at the second intermission, with Mikko Rantanen scoring the go-ahead goal for Dallas.
But the Avs would not go down easily. They scored twice in three minutes to regain the lead before adding two empty netters at the end to close out the game. Mackenzie Blackwood had a tough second period but was otherwise solid. And the Avs, who won Game 1 in Dallas, are hoping to win their second game on the road in this series to advance to Round 2.
Colorado isn’t expected to make any lineup changes. Ross Colton traveled with the club to Dallas but will sit for the sixth consecutive game after suffering a lower-body injury in Game 1. He skated in a non-contact jersey ahead of Game 7.
READ MORE: History Lesson: The Avalanche Haven’t Won a Game 7 in 23 Years — Will Tonight Be Different?
The Stars had a tough showing in Denver in Game 4 but found a way to bounce back in Game 5 two nights later. They’re looking to do that again, this time in a desperation game with their backs up against the wall. Basically, Dallas has no choice. And neither do the Avs. Bednar wants his team to fight until the bitter end, and that’s the expectation from both sides.
In a series where weird bounces and flukey goals are aplenty, the Stars will look to tighten things up to stop Colorado from earning those bounces. Ilya Lyubushkin was a -5 in Game 6, and Cody Ceci’s metrics don’t look great at all, especially in recent games.
The Stars’ top guys woke up in the last two games and that helps. Roope Hintz and Rantanen set a record on Thursday when they became the first set of teammates to each have four points in one period in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Rantanen leads the team with eight points, and Hintz has seven. The only other member of that team with at least a point per game is Wyatt Johnston with six points. Johnston was also a -5 in Game 6.
Jake Oettinger gets the nod in goal against Mackenzie Blackwood. Both goalies have had at least one game where they were the best player on their team in this series. And the goaltending battle could be the difference tonight, depending on which of the two could get hot at the right time.
Miro Heiskanen remains out of the lineup. Don’t expect any lineup changes for the Stars either.
READ MORE: 10 Observations: The Time Is Now For the Avalanche To Shift the Game 7 Narrative (+)
Projected Avalanche Lines (subject to change)
Artturi Lehkonen — Nathan MacKinnon — Martin Necas
Gabriel Landeskog — Brock Nelson — Valeri Nichushkin
Jonathan Drouin — Charlie Coyle — Joel Kiviranta
Parker Kelly — Jack Drury — Logan O’Connor
Devon Toews — Cale Makar
Samuel Girard — Josh Manson
Ryan Lindgren — Sam Malinski
Mackenzie Blackwood
Scott Wedgewood
Projected Stars Lines (subject to change)
Mikael Granlund — Roope Hintz — Mikko Rantanen
Mason Marchment — Matt Duchene — Tyler Seguin
Jamie Benn — Wyatt Johnston — Evgenii Dadonov
Oskar Back — Sam Steel — Colin Blackwell
Esa Lindell — Cody Ceci
Thomas Harley — Ilya Lyubushkin
Lian Bichsel — Alexander Petrovic
Jake Oettinger
Casey DeSmith
Projected Starters (subject to change)
- Confirmed: Mackenzie Blackwood (COL)
- Confirmed: Jake Oettinger (DAL)
Avalanche Injuries
- Ross Colton (lower body, TBD)
Stars Injuries
- Miro Heiskanen (knee, day-to-day)
- Jason Robertson (lower body, day-to-day)
- Nils Lundkvist (shoulder, out for season)
How to Watch
- TV: ABC, Altitude Sports (locally)
- Radio: 92.5 FM
Playoff Series Head-to-Head
- Game 1 at Dallas Stars: (W, 5-1 — Series: 1-0 COL)
- Game 2: at Dallas Stars (L, 4-3 OT — Series: 1-1)
- Game 3: vs Dallas Stars (L, 2-1 OT — Series: 2-1 DAL)
- Game 4: vs Dallas Stars (W, 4-0 — Series: 2-2
- Game 5: at Dallas Stars (L, 6-2 — Series: 3-2 DAL)
- Game 6: vs Dallas Stars (W, 7-4 — Series: 3-3)
- Game 7 at Dallas Stars (6 pm MT)
Regular Season Head-to-Head
- Nov. 29 at Dallas Stars (L, 5-3)
- Jan. 18 vs Dallas Stars (W, 6-3)
- March 16 vs Dallas Stars (W, 4-3 OT)
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3 keys to win the game
1 play like game 4
2 play 60 min game.
3 score goals lol.
Avs have dominated this series besides game 5.
More hits and shots etc.
Blackwood needs to be on his game and avs need to stop trying to just play with the lead and keep going. Play tighter defense.
I’m probably crazy, but the fact this game will be on ESPN gives me more trepidation than anything else. This series, the Avs have won the 3 games on TNT/TBS, and the Stars have won the 3 games on ESPN. Guess we’ll have to hope we can break that trend in Game 7!
It’s on ABC, not ESPN.
The game is on ABC BTW! 🤣
It’s not on ESPN – it’s on ABC’s national coverage
Our entire defensive line
Wes McCauley is the one person who should scare the Avs. The Stars have never lost a game in regulation play with him on the ice (10-0-3 record).