Robertson, Stars will shine through against Wild

The Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild face off in what might be the most closely matched series of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Dallas has been surprisingly consistent in a season where Jason Robertson has ascended to NHL stardom and the Zone Time are tipping the team to make it past Minnesota.

Video Transcript

JULIAN MCKENZIE: I have Dallas winning that series. I think a lot of these-- I think these two teams are pretty evenly matched in terms of the talent and the storylines they can offer. But I think Dallas might have the edge with the better goalie in Jake Oettinger and Jason Robertson's a beast. I ultimately think those two will be the big X factor going forward against the Minnesota Wild team that really could use a series win, but they might not get it again this year. Avry, who is your pick between Minnesota and Dallas?

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: Yeah, I've got to agree with you, Julian. This is probably the most evenly matched series of all the match-ups, no matter what conference. But I'm going to really love seeing the match-up of Kaprizov against Robertson. Those are two guys who are must-see TV. And then Dallas will have veterans, like Benn, like Seguin.

You still have Joe Pavelski out there in Dallas doing his thing. Jake Oettinger is someone who I've loved seeing. We saw him last year, he was [INAUDIBLE]. He was a guy who kept Dallas in that series for a lot of it, and could have moved on if it wasn't the overtime winner. But I'm going to honestly go Dallas in six in that series.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: OK. Sam, who's your pick for Minnesota-Dallas?

SAM CHANG: I'm going to agree with Avry. I think Dallas in six. They look really good this year. And I just-- yeah, I don't know. Gut feeling. It's going to be a tight match-up, but I think Dallas pulls it out.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: OK. So, I have Dallas in seven. Sam has Dallas in six. Avry, do you have Dallas in how many games?

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: Dallas in six.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: OK, Omar, are you going to make it a clean sweep for Dallas or are you going to pick Minnesota?

OMAR: No, it's a clean sweep. That's a clean sweep. Yeah, I'm with Dallas as well. And I think Joe Pavelski, I don't know what this man does between, like, game 82 and game 1 of the playoffs, but like, he just decided, you know what, screw my age. I'm just going to go off, because like, he just, like, snaps in the playoffs every single year. And like, yeah, I think the battle of goaltending is going to be-- going to be pretty significant.

But I think Dallas has a better structure overall, and I do think they have the better goalie, no disrespect to Fleury. But yeah, they have a lot of, like, those sneaky-- those sneaky weapons, Robertson as well. I'm also interested to see what Roope Hintz does after having a good regular season this year as well. So, yeah, I'm Dallas in six for that.