Three significant factors to watch for during Game-3 of the Colorado Avalanche vs Dallas Stars playoff series

The Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars are tied in what should be one of the more competitive matchups in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Avalanche will have home ice advantage in Game 3, and they'll have to rely on these factors to get ahead in the series.

It appears the Avalanche have a foundation in the net, as Mackenzie Blackwood has stepped up his play after being traded from the San Jose Sharks to the Avalanche.

He'd play his first 19 games of the year with the Sharks with a .911 save percentage on a bottom-run team. Now, two games in the 2024-2025 NHL playoffs, he's pushing the Avalanche ahead with a 2.18 GAA and a .921 save percentage.

He's already doing better than his opponent, Jake Oettinger. While he's not perfect, he's proven himself to be the Avalanche's new starting goalie after the chaos in net with prior netminders like Justus Annunen and Alexandar Georgiev.

The bottom-six typically is a forechecking unit, and is primed for maintaining puck-possession and defensive posture on the ice. However, Jared Bednar's bottom-six is just as lethal as the top-six, as in Game 1, the unit of Parker Kelly, Jack Drury, and Logan O'Connor combined for four points.

Drury helped end the game deftly by assisting on Charlie Coyle's goal, which ended the night 5-1 in Game 1 over the Stars.

The bottom-six could experience a jolt of production should Gabriel Landeskog return to the lineup.

The Avalanche have one of the better power-plays in the league at 24.8% and will have to utilize it to not only finish off the Stars but maintain their dominance in the postseason.

However, they'll have to work on improving their PK with a 79.8% success rate.