No one would call it a masterpiece, but the Dallas Stars rode a breakout game from Jamie Benn and a strong goaltending performance from Kari Lehtonen to a 3-2 win over the Avalanche last night in Denver. Dallas built and relinquished a 2-0 lead before Benn's second goal of the game restored the lead for good.
Stars coach Glen Gulutzan engineered wholesale lineup changes last night with the team coming off a shutout loss in Phoenix and struggling to score goals in general (especially on the road). Team captain Brenden Morrow went to the top line with Benn and Jaromir Jagr, and responded with one goal plus another that was disallowed (and Morrow penalized) for goaltender interference.
Dallas got on the board quickly. Benn's first goal of the game came directly off a Matt Hunwick turnover inside the Colorado zone. After collecting the puck, Benn skated in and beat Semyon Varlamov. Midway through the opening stanza, Jagr collected the puck off a faceoff and bulled his way directly toward the net. Jagr's initial shot was snuffed but the puck went directly to Morrow, who put the puck in from point blank range.
The Stars saw their lead cut in half late in the opening period. In what initially looked like a well-covered rush, John Mitchell put a side angle shot on net. Dallas defenseman Alex Goligoski came to a stop and looked down to find the rebound. The puck went directly to a now-open Milan Hejduk. Playing his 1,000th game in an Avalanche uniform, Hejduk jammed the rebound in near the right post.
In the second period, the Stars flirted with trouble by taking a series of penalties whistled by referee Justin St. Pierre (who was working solo after partner referee Chris Rooney was injured by a deflected Jamie Oleksiak shot early in the first period). Most of the penalties were of the careless variety. The Stars' penalty killers got a little overworked on three closely spaced kills.
On the third one, the Avalanche generated crisp puck movement and Paul Stastny finally got it to P.A. Parenteau in prime shooting position. He sniped a shot past Lehtonen to tie the game.
Several minutes later, on a delayed penalty call against Colorado, the Stars maintained puck possession for an extended period of time. Eventually, the tiring Avalanche players had their coverage break down after being unable to touch the puck for a stoppage. Making his return to the lineup, Derek Roy fed Benn, who fired a laser beam of a shot from the deep slot past Varlamov to restore the lead at 3-2.
The Stars had plenty of opportunities to put the game away in the third period, including a pair of late power play. They were unable to find an insurance goal, and very narrowly missed an empty net goal before it was stopped near the goal line. But Colorado never found the equalizer, and Dallas had a much-needed one goal victory.
Lehtonen turned in his usual strong performance in making 29 saves to earn the victory. Dallas had its own fair share of breakdowns (a dozen turnovers between their own giveaways and Colorado takeaways) and continued the season-long trend of taking avoidable penalties. But the big Finn made all the stops he had a chance to make.
The Stars' three-game road trip concludes tomorrow night in Edmonton. Thereafter, the club briefly returns home for a Friday game against Anaheim before returning to Edmonton for a rematch next Tuesday.
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