Stars at Avalanche
The Dallas Stars look to make it two wins in a row as they conclude their three-game road trip against the Colorado Avalanche in the opener of a home-and-home series on Monday. Dallas began its trek with its second straight loss, a 3-1 defeat in Nashville on Thursday. The Stars bounced back in a big way two days later with a 6-4 triumph at Winnipeg.
Tyler Seguin scored two goals and set up two others while captain Jamie Benn also tallied twice as Dallas squandered three one-goal leads before scoring three times in a 5:02 span bridging the final two periods. After winning five of its final six games in November, Colorado has been less than stellar over the first half of December, going 2-3-1. The Avalanche have earned points in each of their last two contests, posting a 4-3 shootout win in Winnipeg before dropping a 2-1 decision to Minnesota in the bonus format on Saturday.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, FSN Southwest (Dallas), Altitude (Colorado)
ABOUT THE STARS (15-11-5): Dallas received a scare Saturday when Alex Goligoski was hit from behind by Winnipeg's Anthony Peluso in the second period, but the defenseman only sustained a cut on his head and returned in the third. Peluso received a three-game suspension for his actions, but that did not change coach Lindy Ruff's feelings. "I thought the Peluso hit was a joke, for a guy that plays that amount of time and runs a guy like Goligoski from behind," Ruff said. "What's he play, three or four minutes a game? Go run one of our bigger guys." Defenseman Sergei Gonchar set a career high Saturday with four assists, while center Colton Sceviour made his season debut and scored his first career goal in just his third NHL contest.
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (21-9-1): Colorado has struggled on the power play of late, going 0-for-26 over its last 10 games. Defenseman Ryan Wilson will miss Monday's contest but is expected to return from his back injury the following night in Dallas. Semyon Varlamov will start the opener of the home-and-home set while Jean-Sebastien Giguere will get the call on Tuesday.
OVERTIME
1. Seguin's four-point performance on Saturday was his third of the season and second in four games. He also recorded five points on Nov. 14 at Calgary.
2. Colorado is just 9-8-1 since winning 12 of its first 13 games.
3. The Avalanche won the first two meetings of the season by identical 3-2 scores.