Martin Necas scored two goals, and the Colorado Avalanche held on to defeat the Dallas Stars 3-2 at American Airlines Center on Tuesday night.
Artturi Lehkonen opened the scoring for Colorado at 11:32 of the first period, converting on a backhand shot off assists from Nathan MacKinnon and Josh Manson. Dallas answered late in the frame when Tyler Seguin scored a power-play snap shot at 19:06, assisted by Jason Robertson and Miro Heiskanen, to send the teams into the intermission tied 1-1.
Necas broke the tie 3:05 into the second period with a slap shot set up by MacKinnon and Nicolas Roy. Later in the period, Necas struck again on the man advantage, beating Dallas with a snap shot at 16:14 following helpers from Gabriel Landeskog and Devon Toews. Roope Hintz cut the deficit to 3-2 at 3:17 of the third period with a snap shot assisted by Seguin and Heiskanen, but the Stars drew no closer.
Mackenzie Blackwood earned the win in net for the Avalanche, stopping 24 of 26 shots. Jake Oettinger took the loss for Dallas after making 22 saves on 25 shots. Colorado went 1 for 3 on the power play, while Dallas converted its lone opportunity on the man advantage.
With the victory, Colorado improved to 4-2-0 on the regular season. Dallas fell to 2-3-1 and is now winless in two consecutive games.
The Avalanche travel to face the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday, October 19, at 7:00 PM ET. The Stars will host the Boston Bruins on Tuesday, October 20, at 8:00 PM ET.
