Starting a grueling three-games-in-four-nights road gauntlet, the Dallas Stars came up short in the first game. The Colorado Avalanche skated off with a 5-3 win at the Pepsi Center in Denver on Tuesday night.
The Stars wasted a three-point (one goal, two assist) game by team captain Jamie Benn as Colorado's Matt Nieto countered with a hat trick that was finished off with a late empty net goal. Brett Ritchie and John Klingberg also scored for Dallas, while Gabriel Landeskog and Mark Baberio tallied the other Colorado goals.
Ben Bishop got the start in goal for Dallas, going 26:12 and stopping 14 of 17 shots before giving way to Kari Lehtonen. The Big Finn wound up getting charged with the loss because he yielded the fourth Colorado goal; the lone goal he gave up on 15 shots. Semyon Varlamov made 34 saves to earn the win for the Avalanche.
The game was something of a seesaw affair. The Stars led 1-0, trailed 2-1, trailed 4-2 and then got back within a goal before the Nieto empty netter. Dallas went 0-for-3 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill as all the scoring came at 5-on-5 or 6-on-5.
The Stars have a travel day on Wednesday. They will play the Oilers in Edmonton on Thursday and the Flames in Calgary on Friday.