Nieto's hat trick helps Avalanche end skid
DENVER -- Matt Nieto had three goals for his first career hat trick, Gabriel Landeskog had a goal and an assist, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Dallas Stars 5-3 on Tuesday night to end a three-game skid.
Mark Barberio also scored, Blake Comeau had three assists and Semyon Varlamov had 34 saves -- 13 in the third period when the Avalanche withstood a Dallas surge.
Jamie Benn had a goal and two assists, John Klingberg had a goal and an assist, and Brett Ritchie scored for Dallas. Kari Lehtonen stopped 14 shots in relief of Ben Bishop.
Nieto scored the first two goals of the game for Colorado and completed the hat trick with an empty-netter with 3.1 seconds left
The Avalanche (5-4-0) avenged a loss in Dallas 10 days earlier but had to survive Dallas' dominating third period.
The Avalanche outscored the Stars 3-1 in the second, the last goal coming on Barberio's first of the season with 9.8 seconds left in the frame, which made it 4-2.
Dallas (5-4-0) outshot Colorado 14-7 in the third and got within one on Klingberg's goal at 10:12. Lehtonen came off for an extra skater with 30 seconds left but Nieto scored.
The score was 1-1 heading into the second when the teams combined for three goals in 1:50.
Nieto gave Colorado its first lead when he stuffed in a rebound off Carl Soderberg's shot from right in front of the net, but Ritchie quickly tied it with his first of the season when he knocked in a centering pass from Tyler Seguin 30 seconds later.
Landeskog put Colorado in front, 3-2, when he beat Bishop with a sharp-angle shot from the left side at 4:04.
Lehtonen came on for Bishop 2:12 after Landeskog scored. Bishop had 14 saves.
Benn gave the Stars the first-period lead when he flicked a shot off defenseman Anton Lindholm's stick and through Varlamov's legs at 8:03 of the first.
Nieto tied it 1-1 with when he charged the net and cleaned up Landeskog's rebound on a 4-on-4 at 13:45.
NOTES: Stars D Stephen Johns left the game after the first period with concussion symptoms. He did not return. ... Avalanche D Patrik Nemeth (lower-body injury) and C Colin Wilson (hip) were out of the lineup. D Chris Bigras took Nemeth's spot and LW Gabriel Bourque, recalled Sunday from AHL San Antonio, was in the lineup for Wilson, who is considered day to day ... The Stars killed off 13 straight penalties during their winning streak. ... The Avalanche recalled D Andrei Mironov from San Antonio on Monday. He was a healthy scratch. ... Stars C Tyler Seguin had two assists, and he as eight points (four goals, four assists) in his last five games.