A pretty passing play off a counter attack gave the Colorado Avalanche a two-goal lead that they padded late in a 5-1 road win over the Dallas Stars in Game 1 at American Airlines Center. After taking a crossing pass from Logan O’Connor, Josh Manson found defense partner Devon Toews driving to the cage and he tapped the pass past Jake Oettinger to give Colorado a 3-1 lead with 7:04 remaining in regulation. Nathan MacKinnon would add his second of the night into an empty net 3:56 later to clinch it. Artturi Lehkonen opened the scoring and Charlie Coyle completed it, beating Oettinger 11 seconds after MacKinnon’s goal. Roope Hintz deflection goal was the only shot that got by Mackenzie Blackwood, who finished with 22 saves.
Kyle Connor snapped a tie with 96 seconds remaining in the third period, and the Winnipeg Jets rallied for a 5-3 victory over the St. Louis Blues in Game 1 at Canada Life Centre. Connor and Mark Scheifele each had a goal and two assists and Jaret Anderson-Dolan, Alex Iafallo and Adam Lowry also lit the lamp for the Presidents’ Trophy-winners. Robert Thomas, Oskar Sundsqvist and Jordan Kyrou tallied for the Blues, who led twice during the game. Winnipeg out-shot St. Louis 9-2 and scored three times in the final frame.
AHL
The Charlotte Checkers completed the 2024-25 AHL regular season with a 5-0 rout over the Springfield Thunderbirds at MassMutual Center. Brett Chorske (3), Riley Hughes (3), Sandis Vilmanis (9), Wilmer Skoog (9) and John Leonard (36) scored the goals. Leonard finished tied for second in the AHL in goals with Toronto’s Alex Steeves, three behind Matěj Blümel of the Texas Stars. Oliver Okuliar and Liam McLinskey each collected two assists and Nicholas Zanbaneh, Mikulas Hovorka, Jesse Puljujärvi, Riley Bezeau and Michael Benning also had a helper. Ken Appleby made 20 stops to register his sixth shutout of the season, which was one less than league-leader, Devon Levi. Appleby (15-8-1) tied Laval’s Cayden Primeau with the league’s lowest GAA – 1.96.
Charlotte (44-22-3-3) will await the higher seed among the two winners of the best-of-three first-round Atlantic Division series between the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Lehigh Valley Phantoms, and Providence Bruins and Springfield. The Checkers will not play the sixth-seeded Thunderbirds if they advance.
Today in the Stanley Cup Playoffs
- New Jersey Devils at Carolina Hurricanes 3 p.m. (ESPN)
- Ottawa Senators at Toronto Maple Leafs 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
- Minnesota Wild at Vegas Golden Knights 10 p.m. (ESPN)