The 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs are going to be exciting.
There’ll be a ton of great matchups. The Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings meet for the fourth postseason in a row. We’ll likely get the Battle of Florida and the Battle of Ontario. However, the most exciting series could be a rematch of the second round between the Colorado Avalanche and the Dallas Stars.
It was the sixth time the two teams have battled in the postseason since the Avalanche relocated from Québec City to Denver and the Stars relocated from Minnesota to Dallas. The first matchup was in the 1999 postseason in the conference finals, where the Stars won in seven games and eventually won the Stanley Cup.
They matched up in the conference finals the following season, with the series going another seven games with the same winner. However, the Stars fell in the Stanley Cup Finals to the New Jersey Devils.
It took another few years before the teams met again in the postseason. In the 2004 postseason, it was the Avalanche’s turn to win, as they defeated the Stars in five games, as was the case in the 2006 postseason.
The next matchup was 14 years after, during the pandemic-impacted 2020 postseason. Dallas defeated the Avalanche in seven games en route to another Stanley Cup Final, where they lost in six games to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Of course, the Colorado Avalanche had their own success around this time. After the Lightning won back-to-back Stanley Cups, the Avalanche defeated the Lightning in the 2022 Stanley Cup Finals to win their third Stanley Cup.
And then we come to last season. The Avalanche won Game 1 4-3 in overtime, but the Stars answered back with a 5-3 win and a 4-1 win. After Game 3, Valeri Nichushkin was suspended, and the Avalanche fell to 3-1 in the series. They won Game 4 by a score of 5-3 to stay alive, but former Avalanche Matt Duchene scored the double-overtime winner to eliminate the Avalanche in Game 6.
The Stars and Avalanche are set to meet in the first round of the 2025 postseason. Earlier this season, the Avalanche traded Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes. After a handful of games, the Hurricanes traded him to the Stars. The Stars also loaded up by acquiring Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci.
Despite moving a 50-goal scorer, the Avalanche didn’t just sit on their hands around the trade deadline. For Rantanen, they acquired Jack Drury and Martin Nečas. In a trade on March 1, they acquired Ryan Lindgren and Jimmy Veasy. The Avalanche also acquired two centres before the deadline, Charlie Coyle for Casey Mittelstadt, as well as Brock Nelson from the Islanders. Maybe their best addition of the season came back in December when they acquired goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood from the San Jose Sharks.
Although this will be an exciting series, the good news for the Oilers is that one team will be eliminated before the second round. The winner will also likely face the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Winnipeg Jets.
Other Playoff Previews…
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Oilersnation, FlamesNation, and Blue Jays Nation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
