This is a 10* on COLORADO

We’ve been pretty steadfast that Colorado is a better team than Dallas. In fact, we’ve taken them in each of the last four games of this series! While that hasn’t been profitable so far (gone 2-2 and down juice), Game 5 certainly seemed to be a turning point. The Avalanche scored five times in a record-breaking 1st period and won in a rout, 6-3. There’s been a ton of focus (rightly so) on how many goals Dallas has been scoring, but the fact is that the Avs have scored six or more times in four of the last seven games. That includes twice in the last three games. The Avs have outshot the Stars in the series, averaging 36.2 attempts per game. They had 41 in Game 5. Goaltending is now a huge storyline. Of course, Colorado lost Philipp Grubauer to injury in Game 1. Pavel Francouz was ineffective, but the Avs may have found their man in Michael Hutchinson, who made 31 saves in an unexpected start Monday. For Dallas, despite being deemed “unfit to play,” Ben Bishop got the Game 5 nod and it turns out he was indeed “unfit to play” as he gave up four goals before being replaced by Anton Khudobin. Khudobin is no safe bet either as he’d never made a playoff start before this year. As detailed in our writeup for the last game, Dallas’ scoring surge was extremely shocking and unlikely to continue. We’ve taken Colorado each of the last four games. Make it five in a row. Play on COLORADO

AAA