DALLAS -- The Stanley Cup Playoffs are about best on best, and there's going to be plenty of that when the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars play in Game 3 of the Western Conference Second Round at Ball Arena in Denver on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN1, SN, TVAS).
On one side, you have the Avalanche, who had the best home record in the regular season (31-9-1, .768 points percentage). On the other side are the Stars, who had the best road record in the regular season (26-10-5, .695).
That's a whole lot of best in a best-of-7 series that's already been incredibly entertaining and is tied 1-1.
"Should make for some good games," Stars forward Tyler Seguin said Friday.
"That's the challenge, right? With how good they are on their home ice, how good they've been there in the playoffs (2-0), how good some of their star players have been during the regular season. (Avalanche center Nathan) MacKinnon and the streaks he's had this year. A lot of challenges going in for us the next few games."
One of those challenges will be MacKinnon, who had a 35-game home point streak this season in which he had 77 points (29 goals, 48 assists). When it ended in a 3-2 shootout loss to the New York Rangers on March 28, it was the second-longest home point streak in NHL history behind Wayne Gretzky's 40-game run with the Los Angeles Kings in 1988-89.
Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said he'd like to see more from his star center and Mikko Rantanen, who plays on MacKinnon's right side on the top line. The two have combined for four points (one goal, three assists) against the Stars, all of which came in Game 1.
Getting last change and the chance to get the matchups they desire at home should boost those two, as well as the Avalanche overall.
"It starts with being a connected group as a forward line and working with one another. I felt like they were isolated a lot [in Game 2]," Bednar said of MacKinnon and Rantanen on Friday.
"If you look at some of the lines that have had success for us in these two games, and not just on the score sheet, but like successful shifts and putting Dallas under duress at times, whether it's their forechecking, O-zone play, having success on breakouts and moving through the neutral zone, they're connected together."
Meanwhile, the Stars faced a formidable challenge in the first round, when they lost their first two games at American Airlines Center before heading to T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for Games 3 and 4 against the Vegas Golden Knights. Doing what's worked for them on the road -- playing a simple game and taking short shifts -- the Stars won those two games en route to a seven-game series victory.
"Our team enjoys playing on the road in those environments, I think that's good. This is a little different than Vegas, just because Colorado's just a little more explosive," Stars coach Pete DeBoer said.
"You combine that with their home record and that crowd, they can really turn things around quickly, as we saw in the last couple of games here (in Dallas) in the third period. We have to manage that but our group's really comfortable on the road all year in all environments. We're excited to go in there and put our best game on the ice."
The Avalanche came back from a 3-0 deficit in Game 1 to win 4-3 in overtime and just about did the same from a 4-0 deficit in Game 2, but the Stars held on to win 5-3.
With the series moving to Denver, it should get even more ramped up.
"I think obviously that's a little bit of a goal on the road," Avalanche forward Casey Mittelstadt said of the split. "When you win in the first one, you want to get the second one, but I think we're coming home with what we feel like is the advantage, and I think we trust our game on home ice."
