Benn, Seguin lead Stars over Avalanche
DALLAS -- Dallas Stars coach Ken Hitchcock won his 783rd career game and passed Al Arbour for the third-most wins in NHL history with a 3-1 win against the Colorado Avalanche.
Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin each had a goal and an assist for Dallas, while Ben Bishop made 21 saves in the victory.
Seguin also had his first career fight in the third period against former teammate Patrik Nemeth, giving the center his first career Gordie Howe Hat Trick.
Semyon Varlamov made 33 saves for Colorado and kept his team in the game on the second night of a back-to-back.
Dallas scored early and late in the second period as it took a 2-0 lead.
Benn carried the puck into the zone on a 2-on-1 with Alexander Radulov and beat Varlamov with a wrist shot on the stick side 24 seconds into the second period.
Seguin pushed the lead to 2-0 with one second remaining in the period when he scored a power-play goal at 19:59. The Stars could have let time run out on the period, but won two puck battles and Devin Shore quickly setup Seguin for the shot before time expired.
With that goal, the Stars now have power-play goals in five straight games.
Matt Duchene cut the lead to 2-1 at 1:26 of the third period on a wrist shot during a delayed penalty.
Esa Lindell scored into the empty net with 38.5 seconds remaining to give Dallas a 3-1 win.
Bishop was the less busy goalie, but came up big when he needed to.
At 12:34 of the second period, Stars defenseman Dan Hamhuis turned the puck over in his own zone, setting up a mini breakaway for J.T. Compher. Bishop was patient on the play and made the blocker save to protect a 1-0 lead.
Dallas outshot Colorado 14-4 in the first period and had several opportunities to take the lead.
Shore hit the crossbar on a power play wrist shot with 6:06 remaining in the period. The Stars fourth-line consisting of Tyler Pitlick, Radek Faksa, and Antoine Roussel had a couple point-blank chances late in the period, but Varlamov made a key sprawling save on Roussel with 1:29 remaining in the period.
NOTES: Avalanche C Nathan MacKinnon played one night after leaving a 3-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks with an eye injury. MacKinnon, who got hit in the eye with a stick, was cleared late Friday and wasn't having any vision issues ... D Patrik Nemeth returned to Dallas for the first time since getting claimed on waivers by the Avalanche on Oct. 3. Nemeth spent the past five seasons in the Stars organization ... Stars D Dan Hamhuis returned to the lineup after missing two games with a groin injury.