Stars liquidation in Pepsi Center
The official game recap Colorado Avalanche vs Dallas Stars.A dormant power play came to life for the Colorado Avalanche, who scored twice with the man advantage on the way to a 5-2 win against the Dallas Stars at Pepsi Center on Saturday.
Matt Duchene and Gabriel Landeskog scored power-play goals 2:59 apart early in the third period to give the Avalanche a 5-2 lead.
Duchene, who set up Alex Tanguay's tie-breaking goal with two minutes left in the second period, scored from the right circle at 46 seconds of the third, and Landeskog followed when he knocked in the rebound of Tanguay's shot on a 5-on-3 advantage at 3:45.
Duchene's goal broke Avalanche power-play slumps of 0-for-15 covering parts of six games and 1-for-35 in a 12-game stretch.
The Avalanche outshot the Stars, who played Friday, 33-13 through two periods and 47-24 for the game.
Tanguay had a goal and two assists, and Tyson Barrie had three assists.
The win was the first for the Avalanche in six games (1-3-2) against Central Division opponents. The Stars still haven't won against Central teams (0-6-3).
The Avalanche had the final 14 shots of the second period and broke a 2-2 tie when Duchene controlled the puck behind the net and fed Tanguay on the left side for a shot that beat goalie Anders Lindback to the short side.
The Avalanche and Stars scored two goals each in a sloppy first period.
The Stars opened the scoring at 10:24 on a goal by Cody Eakin after an Avalanche turnover. Eakin fanned on a shot in the left circle and took another swipe that hit defenseman Jan Hejda's skate near the right post and went into the net.
Patrick Eaves tied the game with 34.9 seconds left in the period after Hejda tried to dump the puck through Eaves at the Dallas blue line. Eaves blocked it, skated by Hejda for a 2-on-1 rush and scored against goalie Calvin Pickard after his original shot was deflected.
The Avalanche took a 2-1 lead on goals by Daniel Briere at 13:13 and Jarome Iginla at 16:30. Iginla's goal was the 564th of his NHL career, tying him with Joe Nieuwendyk and Mats Sundin for 21st place on the all-time list.
Briere carried the puck behind the Stars net, spun around and shot from a sharp angle near the left corner, beating Lindback to the short side. Iginla was at the right hash marks when he scored after accepting a cross-ice pass from Landeskog.
Avalanche center John Mitchell re-aggravated a leg injury in the first period that caused him to miss the previous three games; he didn't return. Marc-Andre Cliche left in the second period with an undisclosed injury.
-- by Rick Sadowski for NHL.com --
Eurolanche.com, Worldwide, eurolanche@eurolanche.com
30/11/2014 - 07:00
