DALLAS -- The Colorado Avalanche combined for 1,177 games of experience in the Stanley Cup Playoffs entering Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round. Their starting goalie, however, had zero. A big question, at least on the outside, was how Mackenzie Blackwood would handle it.

Nathan MacKinnon had a part in both of Colorado’s strange goals in the second period before adding an empty-netter late as the Avalanche beat the Dallas Stars 5-1 in the opener of their first-round Western Conference playoff series Saturday night.

Rantanen wasn’t done moving, either. He declined to sign a contract extension with the Hurricanes before the trade deadline, so one of the 10-15 best players in the world was traded again, and this time to the franchise that knocked the Avalanche out of the playoffs in 2020 and 2024.