DENVER — Tyler Seguin scored the tiebreaking goal in the second period and added an empty-netter in the third, and Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger made it all hold up, powering the Stars to a 4-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night for a 2-1 lead in their Western Conference second-round series.
The Avs pulled goaltender Alexander Georgiev with just under 2 minutes remaining and Seguin scored an empty-netter with 1:37 to go to make it 3-1, and Logan Stankoven, who scored Dallas’ first goal, added a second empty-netter with 28 seconds remaining.
With their second straight win, the Stars regained home-ice advantage in the best-of-seven series by throttling Colorado’s high-powered offence that entered the night having averaging 5 goals a game in these playoffs, where they hadn’t scored fewer than three goals in a game.
Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin was held scoreless for the first time in these playoffs. He was looking to become the third player in NHL history to have an eight-game goal streak during the playoffs (Reggie Leach, Philadelphia Flyers, 10 games in 1976; Brayden Point, Tampa Bay Lightning, nine games in 2021).
Game 4 is Monday night at Ball Arena, where the Avalanche are now 33-10-1, including 2-1 in the playoffs.
The Stars were an NHL-best 26-10-5 on the road during the season and have won three of four playoff games away from American Airlines Center.
Oettinger had 29 saves on 30 shots.
The Stars took a 2-1 lead into the third period after breaking the tie on an odd-man rush with just under five minutes left in the second. Evgenii Dadonov skated down the left side and sent a pass through the slot that Seguin redirected past Georgiev, who had 19 saves on 21 shots.
Seguin has three goals in the last two games. He scored his first goal of these playoffs in Dallas’ 5-3 win in Game 2.
The Stars led 1-0 after one period despite getting just three shots on goal in the first 18 minutes. Miro Heiskanen fed Stankoven in the slot after a turnover in the Avalanche’s zone by Colorado defenseman Devon Toews and Stankoven beat Georgiev with a wrister inside the left post with 1:21 remaining in the opening period.
That snapped a nearly two-month scoring drought for Stankoven, the 21-year-old rookie who made his NHL debut with six goals in his first dozen games from Feb. 24-March 20, then went 21 games without a goal, the last 12 regular season games and the Stars’ first nine playoff games.
The Avs nearly scored on a power play early in the first on Nathan MacKinnon’s shot that actually went through Jake Oettinger’s legs. Dallas defenseman Ryan Suter and center Jamie Benn both reached behind Oettinger to keep the puck from trickling across the line.
MacKinnon stickhandled through three Stars players and lifted a backhand that Oettinger stopped. The rebound landed in the crease behind Oettinger and Mikko Rantanen tapped it in to tie it 1-all midway through the second period.
That was Rantanen’s 99th career point in 77 Stanley Cup playoff games.
A goal by Nichuskin also would have tied Pat LaFontaine’s NHL record for longest playoff-opening goal streak set in 1992.
