Nathan MacKinnon and Artturi Lehkonen each had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche, who are the No. 3 seed from the Central Division. Alexandar Georgiev made 23 saves.
“I feel during the regular season and even this playoff we’ve been finding good ways to come back and win games when we’re down in the game,” Georgiev said. “I feel confident in our group. You’ve got to take every game one shift at a time. If we play a full 60, it doesn’t matter if they score first or if we do as long as we play from the start to the end.”
Joe Pavelski had a goal and an assist, and Jason Robertson had two assists for the Stars, who are the No. 1 seed from the Central. Jake Oettinger made 22 saves.
“[Oettinger]'s probably the mentally toughest guy in this locker room. I know it's the hardest job in hockey to be a goalie,” Robertson said. “He takes a lot of pride in his work. He's very mentally tough. He's going to flush it away and get ready for next game."
Pavelski gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 9:03 of the first period. He scored on a one-timer from in front off a pass by Matt Duchene, who intercepted a clearing attempt by Colorado defenseman Josh Manson at the side of the net.
Lehkonen tied it 1-1 on the power play with one second remaining in the period, scoring on a wrist shot from the high slot off a pass from MacKinnon.
“We knew we were going to get their best game of the series and we did,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “Their big guys were all on the score sheet tonight, which you probably anticipated would happen. We still are right there in that game. I liked our second period.
“A couple things happened that are really self-inflicted this time of year. It’s really hard to win. One’s a goal at the end of the [first] period. … You’ve got to get out of the period there. Their power play goes 2-for-2 (through two periods). I know we had a penalty there at the end, but that was kind of a moot point. So, tough to win when those type of things aren’t in your favor.”