Colorado vs Dallas Prediction 14 May 2024

Unexpected heroes take the lead here. In all three past games of the series, Colorado was noticeably better: powerful attack, coordinated defense, resilience, middle block, and forecheck. Yet, they lost twice. And there's only one reason - the goalkeeper. Dallas has found the weak link in the opponent's team and systematically pressures the goalkeeper. So far, the tactic is working.

Colorado again concedes the puck first, and this is a telling symptom. The opponent's starting plan is clear, but the "Avalanche" can't handle the pressure. Meanwhile, the team's defensive play is consistently strong, but there are clear problems at the last line of defense. Players are not confident in their goalie, so they try to block as many shots as possible, but even the few attempts they leave for the opponent turn out to be effective.

Dallas unexpectedly plays strongly against the favorite and rightfully leads in the series. The "Texans" are very active in the middle zone, don’t defend with a low block, and seize every opportunity to counterattack. Moreover, they purposefully pressure from the first minutes and “dry out” the games towards the end. The players are clearly set to continue playing in this manner. There’s no point in changing anything when the entire team mechanism works perfectly.

Projected Lineups

Colorado: Georgiev – Toews, Makar – Nichushkin, MacKinnon, Rantanen

Dallas: Oettinger – Heiskanen, Harley – Robertson, Hintz, Pavelski

No new injuries as a result of the three series games. Colorado will be without Drouin, Kiviranta, Landeskog, and O’Connor – none of them have played in this playoff. Dallas will miss Marchment and Hakanpaa. They were also absent in the first-round series.

Goalies

Alexander Georgiev (90.3%, 2.88 GAA) is playing worse with each series game. If nothing changes, the team should consider changing their starting goalie. His counterpart Jake Oettinger (91.7%, 2.21 GAA), on the contrary, is extremely effective, makes no mistakes at the last line of defense, and instills confidence in his team.

Editorial Prediction

The teams continue to play active hockey and create numerous scoring opportunities. Moreover, the pressure starts with the opening whistle and lasts all 60 minutes. There are a lot of shots and blocks. The goalie of one of the teams makes many mistakes. All these factors, in our opinion, will lead to more than 6 pucks being scored in the upcoming game.

⚠️What about head-to-head meetings? The number 54 indicates the amount of matches played, of which the team Colorado Avalanche was stronger (including overtimes and shootout series) in 30; guests, correspondingly, in 24.

🏒Furthermore, it's important to note the total number of pucks thrown into each other's nets:🥅

• for the home team, this figure stopped at 181;

• for the guests – 166.