The Dallas Stars looked like a tired team throughout the first two periods, but they came alive in the third as Vernon Fiddler scored a wrap-around, backhand goal to tie it at 1-1, 5:26 into the third period. However, Colorado’s Paul Stastny scored the game-winning, power play goal just over five minutes later giving the Avalanche a 2-1 road victory on Tuesday.
Stastny deflected teammate Erik Johnson’s point shot down past Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen, who stopped 21 shots.
The Stars struggled to generate much offense in the first period, only registering one shot to Colorado’s seven. Avs winger David Jones open the scoring 10:25 into the first period as Stastny stole a puck from Lehtonen behind the net, centered to Jones, who backhanded past the out of position Lehtonen.
Dallas failed to score on their three power plays, as they struggled to find a quarterback to replace injured Mike Ribero, who missed his third game with a knee injury. Jamie Benn was high sticked with 1:18 left in the third to give the Stars one last crack at tying the game on the power play. Dallas pulled Lehtonen for the extra attacker and Michael Ryder found himself with a wide open net in the waning seconds, but bunted a bouncing pass just wide that left many fans incredulous.
The Stars travel to St. Louis for the first game of a back-to-back to face the Blues Monday, at 7:30 p.m. Their second game is back in Dallas against the Detroit Red Wings Tuesday, at 8:30 p.m.
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