Stars Lose In A Shootout
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DALLAS — Despite trailing 2-0 after two periods Tuesday, the Colorado Avalanche were undaunted.
After scoring twice in the third period to force overtime, the Avalanche completed their comeback when center Maxime Talbot scored the clinching goal in a shootout, giving Colorado a 3-2 win over the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center.
“It’s an important win for us, especially the way (the Stars) played in the first two periods,” Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said. “They were really sharp, and they didn’t give us much. … They blocked some of our shots, but I thought their game was A-1 tonight. It’s nice to rally after giving up that late goal in the second period. Our guys showed some character.”
Talbot was Colorado’s 11th shootout participant, and he beat Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen far post to clinch the win for the Avalanche (22-18-11). It was Talbot’s first career shootout attempt.
“It’s nice to get the two points tonight. It was a team effort,” Talbot said. “If you look at the end of the season, they’re definitely two big points we got tonight.”
Colorado goaltender Semyon Varlamov stopped 30 of 32 shots through overtime to earn the victory. He also yielded only three goals on Dallas’ 11 shootout attempts.
Avalanche center Ryan O’Reilly had a goal and an assist, while defenseman Tyson Barrie forced overtime with a goal late in regulation as Colorado had the extra attacker.
Dallas (23-19-8) got regulation goals from right winger Patrick Eaves and
left winger Erik Cole.
“You can’t play any better and lose,” Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. “We gave up nothing for 60 minutes. They had maybe five chances. The puck just can’t get through us at the end (of regulation). That’s just a tough one.”
The Stars struck first when Eaves scored a power-play goal 6:47 into the game, knocking a pass from Dallas left winger Jamie Benn into the upper left corner of the Colorado net from the right circle.
Eaves’ snap came 20 seconds into the power play after Avalanche center John Mitchell was called for hooking center Tyler Seguin at 6:27 of the opening period.
Cole scored his 13th from the slot with 52 seconds remaining in the second period to make it 2-0. Avalanche defenseman Nate Guenin committed a costly turnover as his attempted clearance from inside the Colorado zone was intercepted by Dallas right winger Ales Hemsky.
Hemsky then sent a backhand pass to Cole, who converted to give Dallas a 2-0 edge.
Colorado pulled one back 6:12 into the third period when O’Reilly tapped in a rebound for his 10th of the season to make it 2-1. Avalanche defenseman Brad Stuart took the initial shot, a slap shot from near the Dallas blue line.
Stuart’s blast deflected off the boards behind the Dallas goal, landing right at O’Reilly’s skates, and O’Reilly scored on an easy tap-in.
“It’s definitely an emotional game, like a roller coaster. But to go at these guys, it’s definitely something that’s positive for us,” O’Reilly said. “But at the same time, we have to regroup and stay ahead of these guys.”
The Avalanche tied the game when Barrie scored his fifth of the season with 20 seconds remaining in regulation. Colorado had the extra attacker after Varlamov left the ice with 1:47 remaining in regulation.
Barrie’s slap shot from the right point hit Lehtonen’s stick before traveling through his five-hole.
“Well, that’s what we want,” Roy said of his team’s resiliency. “That’s the way we were last year. We were very resilient, and I think that’s what we did tonight.”
Lehtonen stopped 22 of 24 shots in regulation and overtime.
“He made a couple of key saves in the third period, including one on the power play,” Ruff said of Lehtonen. “We played smart defense in the third period, but we lost coverage off the faceoff (for the first goal).”
