Avalanche to Face Dallas Stars in Round 2

The Colorado Avalanche will face off against the Dallas Stars in the Second Round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The No. 3-seed Stars erased a 3-0 deficit with seven unanswered goals and defeated the No. 6 Calgary Flames 7-3 on Thursday night to win its best-of-seven series 4-2.

The NHL is reseeding teams during the 2020 postseason, so the No. 2-seeded Avalanche was always going to play the second-lowest seed remaining in the Western Conference. The No. 1 Vegas Golden Knights will play the winner of the series between the No. 4 St. Louis Blues and No. 5 Vancouver Canucks; Vancouver currently leads the set 3-2 with Game 6 scheduled for Friday.

Both Colorado and Vegas won their respective series in five games, with the Avalanche wrapping up its First Round on Wednesday with a 7-1 victory against the No. 7 Arizona Coyotes.

The Avs went 0-2-2 against the Stars during the regular season, but they picked up a 4-0 shutout win on Aug. 5 in the round-robin portion of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers prior to Round 1. Forwards Andre Burakovsky and Joonas Donskoi both had a goal and an assist in that contest, while defenseman Samuel Girard recorded two helpers. Goaltender Pavel Francouz stopped all 27 shots he faced in his playoff debut.

The Avalanche and Stars will be meeting in a postseason series for the fifth time in their franchises' histories, with the teams splitting the previous matchups (2-2). Dallas won the first two series in Game 7, the 1999 and 2000 Western Conference Finals, while Colorado has come out on top in the last two sets. The Avs beat the Stars in five games in both the 2004 and 2006 Western Conference Quarterfinals, including upsetting then-No. 2-seed Dallas in their most recent best-of-seven meeting.

Dallas is tied for Colorado's second-most common opponent in the playoffs, with the Avalanche having only played the Detroit Red Wings more in the postseason (six times). The Colorado/Quebec Nordiques franchise has also played the Montreal Canadiens (last meeting in 1993) and the San Jose Sharks (last year) in five playoff series.

The NHL will announce the series schedule in the near future.