Avs send Stars to fourth straight loss
Official game recap Colorado Avalanche vs. Dallas StarsGoalie Semyon Varlamov made 37 saves and the Colorado Avalanche killed six Dallas Stars power plays in a 4-3 win at Pepsi Center on Saturday.
The Avalanche (18-16-8) have won five of their past six games and moved one point ahead of the Stars in the Central Division standings (44).
Colorado is 10-0-0 when scoring four or more non-shootout goals.
Matt Duchene scored his first goal since Dec. 11 against the Winnipeg Jets to give the Avalanche a 4-2 lead 12 seconds into the third period. He skated from behind the net while being checked by defenseman David Schlemko, spun around in the left circle and shot the puck over Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen's glove.
Dallas (18-16-7) answered at 2:38 when Ales Hemsky scored after taking a drop pass from Jason Spezza in the left circle to make the score 4-3.
The Avalanche scored three goals in the second period to take a 3-2 lead with Nathan MacKinnon breaking a 2-2 tie with 8.4 seconds remaining.
Avalanche forward Maxime Talbot intercepted defenseman John Klingberg's attempted clear and passed to MacKinnon, who skated down the middle and the puck appeared to roll under Lehtonen's left pad and across the goal line. Video review was inconclusive in determining whether the puck completely crossed the line, therefore the referee's call that it was a goal stood.
Erik Johnson and John Mitchell also had goals in the second. Johnson scored his career-high 12th goal at 7:18. He skated from the right corner into the circle and put a backhander through traffic inside the near post. Mitchell's shot from the blue line found its way through several bodies at 8:43.
The Avalanche killed off three Stars power plays in the period, including a 5-on-3 advantage that lasted 33 seconds.
The Stars scored on two of their first three shots to take a 2-0 lead in the first period.
Dallas forward Tyler Seguin spun around above the left hash marks for a shot that Brett Ritchie knocked in 27 seconds after the opening faceoff.
Stars forward Colton Sceviour put a backhander behind Varlamov at 9:24 from the slot after Vernon Fiddler kept an Avalanche clearing attempt from exiting the zone.
-by Rick Sadowski for NHL-
Eurolanche.com, Worldwide, eurolanche@eurolanche.com
11/01/2015 - 01:09
