Dallas Stars hand Colorado Avalanche first home regulation loss since October
The Associated Press
DENVER – Joe Pavelski scored a pair of power-play goals, Jakob Oettinger made 46 saves and the Dallas Stars handed the Colorado Avalanche their first home regulation loss, 4-1, since Oct. 26 – game 6 of the season. Tuesday featured game 47.
The Avalanche went 22 home games without a regulation loss. Dallas is the only team that has beaten Colorado in regulation twice this season.
“We played good enough to win,” winger Gabriel Landeskog said after the game. “It wasn’t our best, by any stretch. But created enough to win.”
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Early in the second period, Avalanche goaltender Pavel Francouz (16 saves) went behind the net to play the puck and got tangled with Pavelski. Francouz rushed back to the crease but didn’t look ready for Jason Robertson’s shot, which made it 2-0.
Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon scored 46 seconds later. Alex Newhook and Cale Makar took similar laps along the board with the puck. Makar left it off for MacKinnon, who moved up and fired through three bodies in the blue paint – J.T. Compher and Thomas Harley were in the process of falling to the ice to the left of Oettinger.
It was MacKinnon’s 10th goal of the season, first in seven games and first since he returned from a broken nose and concussion on Sunday.
Despite the activity in the crease, that goal wasn’t reviewed, but Colorado wanted Dallas’ third goal inspected for goaltender interference. Francouz’s gear and Pavelski’s stick made contact before the puck went in. The goal stood.
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“From my point of view, I was making a save on his deflection,” Francouz said. “I was there, sitting in my butterfly, and he ran into my pad, just got me totally off balance and then put the puck into the net.
“If this isn’t goalie interference, I don’t know what’s goalie interference.”
Francouz headed to the bench for the extra attacker with more than three minutes left in the third period. Tyler Seguin sent the puck into the empty cage.
Newhook had three shots on goal in the first period, including one of its best chances. He got a step on Ryan Suter and tried to go five-hole on Oettinger but the puck didn’t make it through.
The Avalanche power play went 0-for-4. Colorado sits 21-3-2 at home and 34-9-4 overall.
“They won the special teams battle tonight,” coach Jared Bednar said. “Our power play had a lot of good looks, we did some good things, we had some really good chances. …Probably a little bit more traffic would have helped us on a few of those shots, but we just didn’t find a way to beat them tonight.”
The Avalanche finish a back-to-back in Vegas on Wednesday. Colorado’s next four games are on the road.