The Dallas Stars are on the cusp of eliminating a Colorado Avalanche team that went all-in at the trade deadline, despite missing two of its best players in defensemen Miro Heiskanen and winger Jason Robertson.
It's a reminder of all the reasons it's so hard to win in the NHL. It's also a reminder that it's almost impossible to win a series without being lucky and good.
In this series, Dallas has probably been luckier than good — and that's okay. Dallas, when healthy, is a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. Few teams could survive being without one of the best defenseman in the game in Heiskanen or winger Robertson.
The 25-year-old power forward finished the regular season on a tear with 15 goals and 14 assists in his final 27 games. It's a testament to the Stars' depth, their trade deadline additions and organizational drafting and development that they can hang with Colorado while missing two of its most important pieces.
Through the first four games of this series, Colorado looked every bit the better team. The Avalanche handily won the battle in possession through chances, 5-on-5 high-danger chances, shots and 5-on-5 scoring, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Yet, thanks to solid efforts from goaltender Jake Oettinger (fourth among playoff starters in save percentage), a timely Dallas power play (goals in four of game games) and a streaky Avalanche power play (a nightmarish 0-for-6 in game three), the Stars survived multiple lackluster performances early in the series to keep themselves afloat.
What happened next is what's critical: head coach Peter DeBoer challenged his big guns to start scoring. Wyatt Johnston exploded in game five, a game where Dallas started lucky and ended strong. The first two goals were as fluky as you'll see — Johnston scoring nine seconds in from an impossible angle and a goal after an initial save by Avs goalie Mackenzie Blackwood that landed on his back and rolled into the net like a bizarre animation from an NHL video game.
The next goal was a little fluky too — the puck took an odd bounce off a long rebound let up by goaltender Jake Oettinger. Dallas pounced on the puck and Mikko Rantanen finally found paydirt against his former team on an odd-man rush.
But, in a sport full of weird bounces, sometimes it's the ability for star players to take advantage of the flukes that changes a series — and the Roope Hintz set-up for Rantanen on that Dallas goal may very well have changed the dynamic of a series that was tilted towards Colorado in spite of a 2-2 series tie heading into the fifth game.
When a team is struggling to consistently create, they have to find ways to be opportunistic. In Game 5, Dallas would also add goals on a one-timer on the power play and later a net-front redirection to stop a Colorado rally in its tracks.
To Colorado's credit, the Avalanche are right in this series as it heads back to Dallas for Game 6. They've outscored Dallas at 5-on-5 (9-8) and in all situations (15-13) in this series while winning the better numbers in chances (+21) in all situations.
Every game has felt like its own unique story, from Dallas overcoming injuries to the return of Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog after nearly three years away due to injury.
For the sake of neutral viewers everywhere, one can only hope Colorado can force a decisive seventh game Thursday night. It's been that kind of series as the high-paced Avalanche spar with this dynamic Dallas squad.
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