The Avalanche climbed closer to the Western Conference’s No. 1 playoff seed Wednesday with a dominating 4-0 victory over the Dallas Stars in Edmonton.
Cale Makar, Joonas Donskoi, Vladislav Namestnikov and Andre Burakovsky each scored and goalie Pavel Francouz had a 27-save shutout in his first career NHL postseason game. Makar and Burakovsky scored on the power play, and Donskoi’s tally came one second after a Stars player was released from the penalty box at Rogers Place.
Francouz is the first Avs player, and 15th in NHL history, to produce a shutout in his first playoff appearance
“I felt pretty good, especially after I saw how we started the game.