Stars Lose In Colorado
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DENVER — Two quick goals and another great outing by goaltender Semyon Varlamov have the Colorado Avalanche moving up in the chase for a playoff spot.
Centers Nathan MacKinnon and Matt Duchene scored 21 seconds apart, Varlamov stopped 37 shots, and the Avalanche beat the Dallas Stars, 4-3, on Saturday.
Defenseman Erik Johnson and center John Mitchell also scored for the Avalanche, which has won five of six.
Colorado is 9-3-2 since a four-game losing streak in early December. The Avalanche moved passed Dallas into fifth place in the Central Division.
After a rough start to the season the Avalanche are three points behind the last wild card spot.
“Our top guys have been playing good hockey,” Colorado coach Patrick Roy said. “Right now we’re a team that plays with a lot of confidence.”
Right wingers Alex Hemsky and Brett Ritchie scored and center
Colton Sceviour also had a goal for the Stars, which has lost four straight after winning eight of nine. Goaltender Kari Lehtonen stopped 26 shots.
Dallas is 0-2 against the Avalanche and has lost five straight in Denver.
“We all know where we’re sitting right now,” Stars left winger Jamie Benn said. “The standings are going to change quite a bit from now to the end of the year.”
Saturday’s game changed in a hurry when Colorado rallied from a two-goal deficit to take a 3-2 lead into the third period. Johnson, who was named a starter for the NHL All-Star Game on Jan. 25, atoned for his miscues with a backhander at 7:18 of the middle frame. It was Johnson’s 12th goal of the season.
Mitchell tied it with a shot from the point 85 seconds later. It was his fifth goal of the season.
“We got the start that we wanted and kind of laid an egg in the second period,” Benn said.
MacKinnon gave Colorado the lead with his eighth goal with 8.6 seconds left in the period.
Right winger Max Talbot stole defenseman John Klingberg’s pass at the blue line and passed it to MacKinnon in the slot. MacKinnon stuffed the puck on Lehtonen’s pad and it rolled over the line.
The goal held up after a review.
“The call on the ice really helped it count,” MacKinnon said. ?I’ll definitely take it. I thought I got it past him but I wasn’t sure 100 percent.”
Duchene scored 12 seconds into the third period to make it 4-2. It was his 11th goal of the season and first in 13 games. He also had an assist.
“I was pretty happy,” Duchene said. “Scoring goals is the best feeling in the world. I didn’t really get too down on myself, I just stayed with it believing something would go. It was nice to get one like that too where you shoot and pick a corner rather than just banging one in.”
The Stars cut the lead to 4-3 on Hemsky’s goal at 2:38 of the third, his sixth of the season.
Lehtonen went off for an extra skater with 1:20 remaining. Center Jason Spezza hit the post in the final 30 seconds but the Stars couldn’t get the equalizer.
“We played well enough and hard enough to win but we made a couple of big mistakes,” Dallas coach Lindy Ruff said.
The Stars took an early lead on some sloppy play by the Avalanche. Ritchie scored 27 seconds into the game when Johnson and right winger Jarome Iginla let a puck got through them to Seguin, whose backhander was tipped in by Ritche for his third goal of the season.
Sceviour made it 2-0 when Johnson’s clearing attempt up the boards was intercepted by left winger Vernon Fiddler. The puck went to Sceviour, and he beat Varlamov with a backhander at 9:24 of the first.
“We didn’t play a bad first period,” MacKinnon said. “They had a couple of goals but they had eight shots. We limited them as much as we could. We came back in the last two periods and played pretty solid hockey.”
