Avs defeat Stars to end losing streak
The official game recap Colorado Avalanche vs Dallas Stars.The Colorado Avalanche ended their losing streak at four games with a 4-1 win against the Dallas Stars at Pepsi Center on Saturday.
Jarome Iginla, Alex Tanguay, Nathan MacKinnon and Dennis Everberg scored for the Avalanche (23-22-11), who have won all four games against the Stars this season.
The Stars (26-22-8) played without four regular forwards, including center Tyler Seguin, who sustained a knee injury Friday against the Florida Panthers. He is expected to miss 3-6 weeks.
Goalie Jhonas Enroth, who was acquired Thursday from the Buffalo Sabres, made 26 saves but lost in his Stars debut.
Iginla gave the Avalanche a 3-0 lead at 3:20 of the third period when he deflected Brad Stuart's shot past Enroth. Stuart took a shot from inside the blue line and collided with teammate Nick Holden just before the puck entered the net. The defenseman hit the ice and was down for about a minute, but he was able to return.
The goal was Iginla's 18th of the season and the 578th of his NHL career, moving him past Mark Recchi into sole possession of 19th place on the all-time list.
The Stars cut the deficit to 3-1 at 9:58 when Jason Spezza carried the puck from the corner into the left circle and beat goalie Semyon Varlamov to the short side. Each team had a player in the penalty box, but Dallas coach Lindy Ruff pulled Enroth to give his team a 5-on-4 skating advantage.
Everberg scored with 23.1 seconds remaining.
The Avalanche went ahead 2-0 at 5:28 of the second period on a goal by Tanguay. Nate Guenin took a shot from the left point and Enroth made the save, but Everberg was in front and nudged the puck with his stick to Tanguay, who put it into a half-empty net.
Colorado had a chance to increase the lead with a power play at 7:08 when Guenin was slashed by Ryan Garbutt, but the Stars killed it off. The Avalanche have gone 0-for-31 on power plays in the past 11 games.
MacKinnon ended a goal drought of nine games at 11:28 of the first period to give the Avalanche a 1-0 lead. MacKinnon, last season's Calder Trophy winner, took a wrist shot from just above the left circle that hit Stars defenseman Jordie Benn's shoulder and bounced past Enroth's right arm.
The goal was MacKinnon's 10th of the season but his first since Jan. 17 against the Tampa Bay Lightning. It was his first goal at home since Jan. 10 against the Stars.
Avalanche left wing Cody McLeod was assessed a fighting major, 10-minute misconduct and a game misconduct at 6:22 of the third period following an altercation with Stars defenseman Jason Demers. After McLeod checked Demers into the boards behind the Avalanche net, a scrum ensued in front of the benches. Demers, who reached over a linesman to punch McLeod, was given a roughing minor and a 10-minute misconduct.
-- by Rick Sadowski for NHL.com --
Eurolanche.com, Worldwide, eurolanche@eurolanche.com
15/02/2015 - 06:00
