Let's get ready to rumble...

Let’s take a look at the upcoming first round playoff match-up of the Colorado Avalanche and the Dallas Stars.

What Dallas has:
-Mike Modano. He is like a Stars playoff God…
-Jason Arnott. Second only to Mike Modano on the teams’ scoring list his year. He is only one point behind.
-Jere Lehtinen. He led the Stars in goals scored with 33. He’s a defenseman! What makes him even trickier is that he is solid in his own end as well.
-Sergei Zubov. He has decent seasons, but always kicks it up a notch (where would the world be without Emeril?) during the second season. In 142 playoff games, he has 101 points and a plus-30 rating. Did I mention he’s already won two Stanley Cups?

What Colorado has:
-Joe Sakic. Where Mike Modano is a Dallas’ playoff God, Joe Sakic is Colorado’s God. He’s Mr. Clutch for Colorado. He always comes through.
-Rob Blake. Hands down one of the best defensemen in the game. He can routinely shut down the top lines of every team. Plus, he is the top scoring defensemen for the Avs with 51 points.
-Jose Theodore. I don’t think I stand alone when I say that this guy could be the deal breaker here. He has looked solid in his last 5 games. Yes, he has only won one of those games, but much of that comes down to the rest of the team not supporting him as they should. I think he is highly motivated to make a comeback (but let’s be honest here, I’m probably pretty biased!).
-Alex Tanguay. Since his knee injury that had him out for 10 games, he has looked pretty good. This week off will have given him a chance to heal up some more and return to his game.
-Wojtek Wolski. I’m sure you’re saying to yourself, “Who?” I can’t wait to see this kid get some action. He spent the season in the OHL playing for the Brampton Battalion. However, he spent 9 games early in the season with the Avs. In those games, he scored 2 goals (both on the power play) had 4 assists, was a minus-5 and had 4 penalty minutes. Now you are really wondering why I (and really EVERY Avs fan is excited about this kid), so here goes. In 56 games with Brampton this season, he had 47 goals, and 81 assists for 128 points. The closest teammate had 72 points. He was plus-21, had 46 penalty minutes and 30 power play goals. Amazing…

Why Dallas Wins:
Dallas can win if they can get 3 or more goals in the game. In the four meetings between these teams this season, Dallas won three of those by scoring more than 3 goals. Their loss came in a 3-2 overtime loss. Also, Marty Turco has to stay strong in net. Of the 16 teams in the playoffs, only 3 teams have scored more goals this season than Colorado.

Why Colorado Wins:
Score, Score, Score. If the Avs can score, they can win. The one win that Jose Theodore has came from a 6-4 win over the Phoenix Coyotes. In the three losses and one overtime loss, the Avs scored 3 or less goals. So the same holds true for the Avs, if they can score 3 or more goals they can win.

What these games come down to:
Goaltending and defense. Bottomline. Theodore and Turco have to be strong but they are going to need help from their defensive corp.

Series starts tomorrow at 1pm MST. The first game will air on NBC. The following is the complete schedule:
April 22 - Sat - 1:00 Dallas Away American Airlines Center 950 AM NBC
April 24 - Mon - 7:00 Dallas Away American Airlines Center 710 AM Altitude
April 26 - Wed - 7:30 Dallas Home Pepsi Center 950 AM Altitude
April 28 - Fri - 8:00 Dallas Home Pepsi Center 950 AM Altitude
April 30 - Sun - 12:00 Dallas Away American Airlines Center 950 AM NBC
May 2 - Tue - TBD Dallas Home Pepsi Center 950 AM Altitude
May 4 - Thu - TBD Dallas Away American Airlines Center 950 AM Altitude