Stars 3, Avalanche 2
Mike Ribeiro collected a goal and an assist and Kari Lehtonen turned aside 15 shots as the Dallas Stars kept their postseason aspirations alive with a 3-2 road victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Friday.
Captain Brenden Morrow scored for the fourth time in as many games and All-Star Loui Eriksson netted his 27th goal of the season for Dallas (42-28-11), which remained two points behind the Chicago Blackhawks for eighth place in the Western Conference standings.
Ribeiro opened the scoring midway into the first period by redirecting defenseman Karlis Skrastins' shot past Peter Budaj for his 19th goal of the season.
Eriksson doubled the advantage 6:56 into the second period after accepting a brilliant centering feed from Brad Richards and wristing a shot past Budaj.
Brandon Yip sandwiched a shorthanded goal and another tally around Morrow's third-period tally to bring the Avalanche to within a goal, but Lehtonen closed the door to improve to 5-0-1 in his career against Colorado.
Budaj finished with 25 saves for Colorado (29-44-8), which has dropped 28 of its last 32 games (4-26-2).