After dominant Game 4, has Avalanche finally unlocked how to beat Stars?

DALLAS It would be hard not to compare and contrast the current state of the Colorado Avalanche to what the organization faced after Encounter against the Dallas Stars a season ago For all intents and purposes the - season or at the very least Colorado s championship aspirations ended the day of Meeting against the Stars Valeri Nichushkin was suspended for at least six months just hours before puck drop Devon Toews was sick and a late scratch The Stars easily handled a shook Avs company to take a commanding - series lead before winning in six games Fast forward almost a year and Battle against the Stars was one of the best games Colorado has played this season After three games where the margins were razor thin the Avalanche dominated Tournament in every fashion and this series is now - with Meeting on Monday night at American Airlines Center Regardless of who wins Challenge the Avs are in so much better shape both physically and emotionally to try and knock the Stars out of the postseason for the first time in three attempts Different emotionally for sure Avs forward Logan O Connor announced We are really happy with how Saturday s battle went We were firing on all cylinders Whereas last year things were a little discombobulated throughout After a season full of injuries and performer availability issues the Avs entered Monday night as the healthier club in this series Ross Colton remained out with an undisclosed injury but Gabe Landeskog s comeback and remarkable level of play after days away widened the gap with Dallas on the wellbeing front as Miro Heiskanen and Jason Robertson continued to be absent We re also just a different group Toews mentioned Obviously missing that championship hurt for me and not having Val was tough for the gang as well Just having pretty much a full roster right now is different and we feel like we re getting better as the series goes on Further to Toews point Avs coach Jared Bednar was quite positive about his club s effort in Challenge a - overtime loss that left Colorado in a - series hole That performance was better than Competition which was also an overtime loss Then came Contest which was the best offensive performance by any unit in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs When the Avs play like that particularly against an elite opponent like the Stars it s clear winning the Stanley Cup is the ceiling for this group Everyone was feeling good everyone had jump and we were all on the same page working towards the same direction Manson noted of Match I think we can use that to see what really works these are the tangible effects of when everybody sees that it wasn t anything special It s like we should just do what we need to do now not what we think we need to do if that makes sense To borrow an analogy from another sport Colorado s fastball is arguably the best in the NHL It should be given the remodeled Avs came into Monday night with a million roster and a healthy impactful Landeskog Related Articles Keeler Avalanche s Logan O Connor sent Dallas Stars a message for Encounter We re not going to back down Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog continues to defy expectations It s crazy honestly Avalanche-Stars Championship slapshots Gabe Landeskog scores to add to remarkable comeback story Gabe Landeskog punctuates dominant Avalanche effort with goal assist in Championship win Brock Nelson tired of being voyager for Avs vs Dallas in Stanley Cup Playoffs But the Stars have been the best crew in newest years at denying the Avs ability to play at their best to reach back and find the best fastball out there The Avs ascertained what worked against the Winnipeg last year and were relentless in bulldozing their way past the Jets Expecting the same against the Stars might be a stretch but it s realizable the Avs have discovered what can help them in the end get past their latest playoff nemesis You ve got to learn from what you ve been doing throughout the discipline of the series Bednar declared There s things that we ve liked There s things that we want to improve upon I think there s particular things that we did in that meeting that are repeatable I m not going to go into specifics but you have to learn and just adapt and kind of take what the other crew gives you A lot of what we did in that challenge and why we had success is because we were really highly competitive and the attention to detail within our competition in almost all areas of our contest was good So it s got to continue Want more Avalanche news Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis