Seguin carries Stars past struggling Avalanche
DALLAS-- Tyler Seguin had two goals and an assist and Jamie Benn added two assists to lead the Dallas Stars to a 4-2 win against the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday.
Devin Shore and Jamie Oleksiak also scored for Dallas (16-14-7), who has now won three consecutive games for the first time this season.
Colorado (12-22-1) got goals from Matt Duchene and Mikhail Grigorenko. The Avalanche, who also got two assists from Tyson Barrie, are now 3-13-1 over their past 17 games.
The Avalanche trailed 3-1 after two periods, but made it a one-goal game when Grigorenko scored off a rebound 7:27 into the third period. Antti Niemi denied the initial shot from Barrie, but an opportunistic Grigorenko was waiting in the crease and knocked in the rebound with a backhand.
Kari Lehtonen stopped 13 of 14 shots for Dallas, but Lehtonen had to leave the ice 4:56 into the third period following a collision with Jarome Iginla in front of the net. Antti Niemi replaced Lehtonen in goal and stopped four of the five shots he faced.
Colorado had an extra attacker after Calvin Pickard, who stopped 30 of 33 shots, left the ice with 1:45 remaining. However, an empty-net goal by Seguin with 25.2 seconds remaining iced the win for Dallas.
Dallas took an early lead when Devin Shore scored his sixth goal of the season on a tip-in 5:11 into the game. Shore was inside the Colorado crease when he tapped in a pass from Lauri Korpikoski to make it 1-0.
Patrick Eaves was credited with his 100th career assist on the tally.
The Stars doubled their lead at 11:26 of the first period when Tyler Seguin one-timed a slap shot into the left side of the net from the left circle.
Seguin received a cross-ice pass from Jamie Benn, and Pickard was a touch late getting back to the near post. Seguin slipped the puck in just ahead of Pickard for his 12th goal of the season.
Colorado answered with 4:12 remaining before the first intermission when Matt Duchene scored his 13th goal of the season off his own rebound. Lehtonen denied the initial shot from Duchene, who collected the carom and scored for his 400th career point.
Dallas regained its two-goal advantage early in the second when Jamie Oleksiak beat Pickard top shelf to his short side from the right circle at 4:52. Oleksiak's flick deflected in off Pickard's left shoulder.
NOTES: The Avalanche scratched C Joe Colborne, D Cody Goloubef and G Semyon Varlamov (groin). Varlamov, who was unavailable for the sixth time in eight games, did not travel with the team to Dallas and continues to be evaluated. ... The Stars scratched D Stephen Johns and D Patrik Nemeth. ... Dallas coach Lindy Ruff made morning skate optional on Thursday. LW Antoine Roussel (upper body) skated but RW Patrick Sharp (concussion symptoms) did not; neither played Thursday night. Ruff said after that Roussel, out the past two games, is still a few days away. Ruff said Sharp, out 11 straight games, remains day-to-day but is feeling a lot better. ... Colorado C Matt Duchene is the second member of the 2009 NHL draft class to reach 400 points. The other is New York Islanders C John Tavares, who hit 400 points in 2014-15.