Huge Win in Dallas Takes Avs One Step Closer...

Necas scores late and Avs earn 2-0 victory in Big D.

How did the Avs give up eight goals to the lowly Vancouver Canucks and then hold the high-flying Dallas Stars off the scoreboard two days later?

Hockey is a wild game.

Colorado’s 2-0 win in Dallas on Saturday afternoon was as close to a playoff game as a regular season can feel.

Two intense teams entrenched in the midst of a rivalry window, battling for crucial points in the final stretch of the season with one trying to catch the other. The reward? Control of the Central Division and a much cleaner playoff path than what comes with finishing second.

And — as much as I hate to admit it, because I hate Dallas — there is something that feels important and bigger when the Avs play in that building. Part of it is because of the camera angle and the crowd’s heavy inclusion in all center-ice television shots, part of it is the history between the two teams, while part of it is just the crowd’s intensity. I guess when you live there, there’s not much else to be excited about, so they go all in for the Stars, despite their fanbase’s lack of actual hockey pedigree.

But I digress.