After trailing the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Vegas Golden Knights, 2-0 to start their first-round series, the Dallas Stars rallied back and won a tight Game 7 to keep their season alive. In the second round, they could have their backs against the wall again as they take on the second-most recent team to win a Stanley Cup; the Colorado Avalanche are in town.
The Avalanche, who mopped the floor in their first-round series against the Winnipeg Jets in five games, are no easy task. How can the Stars pull off a series victory and return to the Western Conference Final for the second straight season?
Stars’ Offense Has to Start Clicking
What made the Golden Knights such a formidable foe for the Stars was their ability to play such a low-scoring game. Dallas finished the 2023-24 regular season third in NHL scoring with an average of 3.58 goals per game, but that number cratered in the postseason once Vegas was on their plate. Despite winning the series, they had an average of 2.67 goals per game.
It would be inaccurate to chalk Dallas’ scoring struggles down to anything but the Golden Knights being a strong defensive team. They had an elite 57.9 expected goals percentage (xGF%), which was by far the best for any team that had a seven-game series.
Vegas is a direct contradiction to the way the Avalanche play. They had the third-best offense in the NHL based on expected goals for and the ninth-worst defense based on expected goals against. The Golden Knights beat contenders by playing low-event hockey, while the Avalanche beat contenders by playing high-event hockey. This will certainly be an adjustment for the Stars.
In this series, the Stars will need some more offense. Playing defense isn’t going to be nearly as easy, so they will be in a position to outscore some of their problems. Against Vegas, they didn’t get a lot of that offense from individual players.
Only three of 20 Dallas skaters had more than three points in the series, and only one of them had more than five. A lot of key players for the Stars failed to score, with Matt Duchene, Thomas Harley, Roope Hintz, and Joe Pavelski combining for two goals and two assists for four points in 28 games. Just for reference, they combined for four goals and 13 assists for 17 points in the Stars’ last seven games of the regular season. Losing this amount of offense is significant, and it will have to change.
Even a player like Jason Robertson, who had a great series, could use a boost in…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at The Hockey Writers…