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2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 2 Preview: Avalanche vs. Stars

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Great offence or great defence — which are you taking in this second round matchup?

Colorado’s path to this point has been largely unchallenged since finishing second in the round robin. The Avs are coming off a five-game series win against an Arizona Coyotes team that was punching above its weight to get as far as it did before reality hit. Colorado outscored the Coyotes 22-8 and are living up to all expectations so far.

Game 6 of the Dallas Stars’ first-round series against the Calgary Flames saw something we don’t often see from the Stars: goals, and plenty of ‘em. Seven unanswered goals, to be exact, as the floodgates opened in the Edmonton bubble and Dallas ran off with the 7-3 win to close out the series.

However, Dallas’ calling card is its defence and great goaltending, which led them to another great regular season and strong start to these playoffs. Offence hasn’t always been easy to come by for the Stars, but they’ll need to keep that up if they’re to get past one of the top-scoring teams in the game in the Colorado Avalanche.

ADVANCED STATS
Playoff 5-on-5 numbers via Natural Stat Trick

Colorado: 58.19 CF%, 75.00 GF%, 96.08 SV%, 7.79 SH%, 1.039 PDO

Dallas: 49.87 CF%, 51.61 GF%, 92.79 SV%, 7.51 SH%, 1.003 PDO

TEAM STATS

Colorado: 30.6 PP%, 88.0 PK%, 31 GF, 13 GA

Dallas: 20.0 PP%, 76.7 PK%, 25 GF, 27 GA

HEAD TO HEAD RECORD

Colorado: 0-2-2

Dallas: 4-0-0

Colorado’s primary strength: Overwhelming offence and an elite power play. Led by Nathan MacKinnon, who has points in all eight playoff games, the Avalanche have been averaging a league-high 3.88 goals per game in the playoffs and finished off the Coyotes with back-to-back 7-1 wins to become just the seventh team in the past decade to have multiple seven-goal games in a single post-season.

They’ve scored 11 goals with the man advantage thanks to the dominant top unit of Nazem Kadri between Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog with Mackinnon and Cale Makar manning the points.

Dallas’ primary strength: While Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin are still very much the faces of this team and the top two names on the club’s regular-season score sheet, Dallas is built from the blue line up. Headlined by Miro Heiskanen, John Klingberg, and Esa Lindell, Dallas has one of the top d-cores in the league and has fully embraced its defence-first style.

That the Stars have survived dry spells from their forwards is largely due to the strength of their defenders’ elite offensive talent – and while Klingberg has been among their top playmakers, it’s Heiskanen who’s driving this blue-line forward.

Heiskanen’s nine assists and 12 points gives him the team lead in both categories. League-wide, only one player ranks ahead of him in points: Nathan MacKinnon, with 13.

Whew, this is going to be fun.

Colorado’s primary weakness: Level of competition. Yes, the Avalanche have looked outstanding but they really haven’t been tested or pushed much this post-season and that could come back to bite them in the second round if they’re not ready. They fared well in the round robin, yet those games didn’t have the standard playoff vigour. Then, the Coyotes were completely outclassed against them in the conference quarterfinals. Colorado’s lone loss to Arizona was a game in which the Avs outshot the Yotes 51-21, however Darcy Kuemper stood on his head and made 49 saves. Against the Stars, the stakes are higher and the intensity and physicality will be significantly amplified.

Dallas’ primary weakness: Special teams so often prove to be the difference between a good team and a great one, and if the Stars are to get past Colorado in Round 2, they’ll need to do something about their penalty kill.

Their middling PK unit in the regular season has been exposed as one of the worst among remaining teams, allowing seven power-play goals through nine games in the bubble for a 76.7 kill rate. While it didn’t ultimately cost them the series against the Flames, they’ll need to seriously tighten things up as they stare down Colorado in Round 2 — because you can bet for certain the Avalanche are licking their chops as they eye an opportunity to excel via their league-best PP unit.

Colorado Avalanche X-Factor: Colorado’s x-factor isn’t necessarily an individual but rather the overall mindset of the group. The Avalanche went 10 years without winning a playoff series before upsetting the first-place Flames in five games one year ago. While the Avs had a just-happy-to-be-here attitude last season, so to speak, MacKinnon said after eliminating the Coyotes his team feels differently in 2020.

“Our time has arrived,” MacKinnon told reporters after his four-point effort in Game 5. “We haven’t won anything, but it’s definitely a different feel after winning this series. We’re a hungry group. We’re a group that really cares about each other. We really feel we have great chemistry and there’s a good vibe to our team, so it’s great to get these playoffs off on the right foot.”

Dallas Stars X-Factor: The regular-season Stars weren’t exactly known for scoring goals – they had one of the lowest goal totals (178), above only the Los Angeles Kings and Detroit Red Wings – but it was okay because they made up for it with great goaltending. Their 2.52 goals-against average over the course of 69 regular season games was the second-best rate in the league, behind just the Boston Bruins.

So far this post-season, however, the Stars have turned those stats on their heads. Now ranking in the middle of the pack in goals for, there’s a troubling trend brewing in the blue paint as they’ve so far let in the third-most goals among return-to-play teams.

It’s been a bit complicated. Anton Khudobin wasn’t the man we expected to see starting the bulk of Dallas’ post-season games, but Ben Bishop’s ongoing stint on the “unfit to play” list has meant he’s been unavailable for the majority of the Stars’ time in the bubble with no indication of when he’ll once again be the starter – or even if he should be. Bishop’s two post-season games – versus the Vegas Golden Knights in round-robin play and in Game 2 against the Flames – yielded an uncharacteristic 4.04 goals-against average and .862 save percentage, indicating he’s not yet himself.

While goaltending hasn’t ultimately proven too costly so far, it’s certainly concerning for a team whose goal-scoring – though up right now – has been known to dry up.

Source: – Sportsnet.ca

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Canada’s Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Routliffe pick up second win at WTA Finals

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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.

The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.

The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.

Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.

Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.

The final is scheduled for Saturday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.

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Allen nets shutout as Devils burn Oilers 3-0

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EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.

Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.

The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.

Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.

TAKEAWAYS

Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.

Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.

KEY MOMENT

New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.

KEY RETURN?

Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.

OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN

The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.

The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.

UP NEXT

Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.

Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.

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Mahomes throws 3 TD passes, unbeaten Chiefs beat Buccaneers 30-24 in OT

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.

DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.

Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.

Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.

Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.

It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.

The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.

Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.

Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.

The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”

Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.

The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.

Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.

UP NEXT

Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

Chiefs: Host the Denver Broncos on Sunday.

AP NFL:

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