DENVER — You can argue about the format for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, or you can embrace it, because this is what it can create. Game 7. Colorado Avalanche. Dallas Stars. Western Conference First Round.
We’re getting a conference-final-level, winner-take-all matchup at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN, TVAS).
“There’s no use crying about it,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “It’s not 1 versus 16 or 1 versus 8. You’re playing top teams in the whole league right out the gate in every round if you want to get to where you want to go, so you’ve got to play your best for two-week stretches. It’s almost like survival and nothing else. That’s what you’re trying to do. You’re playing for your life every night.”
No, the NHL does not seed the 16-team field from top to bottom — in the League or in the conferences. The top team in each division plays a wild card. The second and third place teams in each division play each other.
The Central Division is a gauntlet.
The Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2022. The Stars went to the conference final each of the past two seasons.
The Stars finished second in the division and fifth in the League this season. The Avalanche finished third in the division and tied for seventh in the League with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Whoever wins Game 7 must play the Winnipeg Jets, who won the Presidents’ Trophy as the NHL’s top regular-season team, or the St. Louis Blues, who had the League’s best record after Feb. 8 (20-4-3, .796 points percentage).
The Jets lead the Blues 3-2 entering Game 6 of their best-of-7, first-round series at Enterprise Center in St. Louis on Friday (8 p.m. ET; FDSNMW, MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC).
“That’s just the way the format is,” Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar said. “You’re going to have to beat really good teams every single round. Dallas is obviously incredibly stacked, and we knew that coming in. It wasn’t going to be an easy series regardless of being up or down.
“I don’t think there was a world where this wasn’t going to seven.”
Colorado and Dallas have given us an epic series already, full of ups and downs and storylines.
The Avalanche led 1-0. The Stars took a 2-1 lead. The Avalanche tied it 2-2. The Stars took a 3-2 lead. The Avalanche tied it again.
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