Avalanche Fall 7-3 to Stars

The Colorado Avalanche suffered a 7-3 loss to the Dallas Stars on Saturday afternoon. Colorado is now 34-21-5 for their season record and rank third in the Central Division standings.

For the Avalanche, Samuel Girard (1G,2A) , Andrew Cogliano and Evan Rodrigues (power play) scored. Alex Newhook handed out two assists. In net, Alexandar Georgiev turned aside 14 of the 19 shots he faced through 31:39 minutes. Keith Kinkaid made his Avalanche debut as he relieved Georgiev in the second period and made eight saves on nine shots through 27:57 minutes. Cale Makar returned to the lineup after being sidelined for five games with an upper-body injury. The Avalanche utilized a lineup of 12 forwards and six defensemen.
For the Stars, Jason Robertson (2G, 1A) scored twice including once on an empty net, Miro Heiskanen, Joe Pavelski (1G, 1A), Mason Marchment, Radek Faksa, Wyatt Johnston scored. Roope Hintz handed out two assists. Jake Oettinger made 32 saves on 35 shots.
GAME SUMMARY:
Following the game, Makar noted that they were, "outplayed" by the Stars, but noted that Dallas made it a point to be physical on Colorado's forwards to limit any sustained time in the offensive zone especially against the Avalanche's lineup - who was without Josh Manson (lower body) and Valeri Nichushkin (illness).
The Avalanche fell to a 3-1 deficit following the first period of play as Dallas capitalized with two goals from their top line of Robertson, Hintz and Pavelski and a strike from Heiskanen at the blueline. Colorado was outshot 12-11 and was tasked with having to kill off two penalties.
The Stars took an early lead at 3:33 as their top line forced a turnover and countered. With the puck loose, Pavelski dropped it out to between the faceoff circles to Hintz, who threaded a cross-ice feed to Robertson. At the backdoor, Robertson wired his shot under Georgiev's blocker.
Under a minute later, the Stars went on the power play at 4:17 as Rantanen received a double minor for unsportsmanlike conduct and slashing, while Stars defenseman Jani Hakanpaa was called for high-sticking.
The Avalanche fortunately killed off the penalty, but relinquished their second goal at 10:09. Dallas captain Jamie Benn - was honored before puck drop for eclipsing the 1,000-game milestone - sent a pass out to the point. From distance, Heiskanen fired a shot through traffic and past Georgiev.
Colorado then went on the penalty kill again at 11:42 as a full scrum broke out between all the skaters on the ice and the Avalanche's newest acquisition Lars Eller, was called for hooking. Colorado's penalty kill came up with another strong performance which provided the team with some momentum.
The Avalanche trimmed their deficit down 2-1 at 16:03 as Alex Newhook sent a low-to-high pass out to Girard. The blueliner unleashed a slap shot that zipped past Oettinger's blocker. But the one-goal game was short lived as Dallas' top line responded at just 1:39 later at 17:42 on a slick passing sequence. Hintz entered the zone, drove to the net and sent a pass back to the slot, to Robertson. The winger sent a pass to the backdoor where Pavelski lofted the puck over Georgiev's extended blocker.

Dallas furthered its lead up to 5-1 in the second period - which resulted in Georgiev being pulled in place of Kinkaid, who made his Avalanche debut in net.
The Avalanche were generating some momentum early on and executed a strong shift from the Artturi Lehkonen, Nathan MacKinnon and Evan Rodrigues line, but on their line change the Stars countered and capitalized at 5:25. Marchment curled around the circles and sent a pass out to atop the right circle for Ryan Suter, who immediately sent it back to him. Marchment's shot beat Georgiev blocker side.
The Stars were revived with momentum and nearly scored again just two minutes later, but Devon Toews made a goal-line save.
Dallas continued to push and netted its fifth goal of the game at 11:39. Esa Lindell launched a point shot that was tipped past Georgiev by Faksa. In response to going down 5-1, Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar pulled Georgiev and replaced him in net with Kinkaid, who the team acquired via a trade with Boston on Feb. 25., made his Avalanche debut after Georgiev was pulled just over the midway mark of the second period.
The 33-year-old left catch took the Avalanche net sporting bright yellow pads and gloves and an all-white helmet.
After starting the third period on the penalty kill - as Rantanen took a slashing penalty with three second left in the middle frame - the Avalanche managed to kill it off, but another error wound up in the back of their net.
At 4:15, Denis Malgin whiffed on a puck at the net front as he attempted to clear it out of Colorado's zone, and Johnston swooped in and tapped it past Kinkaid to give Dallas a 6-1 lead.
The Avalanche scored two goals in the third period to make things interesting, but their effort was ultimately way too little too late.
Cogliano lit the lamp against his former team at 11:49 as he buried a rebound that Oettinger kicked out off Girard's original point shot.

The Avalanche received their first power play of the game late in the third period and capitalized. Benn, the Stars captain, picked up a double minor at 14:31 for roughing and charging against Logan O'Connor - who was sent to the box for roughing.
Colorado's power play carried the puck up the ice. Girard entered the zone and passed the puck into the slot where Newhook one-touched it out to his left for Rodrigues. From the left faceoff circle, Rodrigues whipped a one-timer over Oettinger's glove which marked his first goal since Jan. 28 and snapped an 11-game goal scoring drought.
The Avalanche pulled Kinkaid with under four minutes left in the game in exchange for the extra skater, but Dallas scored on the empty net with Robertson potting his second goal of the night at 16:53.

NOTEWORTHY:

• Girard recorded his fifth goal of the season.
• Cogliano scored his 10th goal of the season and marked the 11th time in his career that he's reached double-digit goals.
• Rodrigues buried his 12th goal of the season and snapped an 11-game goal drought.
• With an assist, Rantanen extended his point streak to seven games where he has totaled 10 points (7G, 3A) in that span. Rantanen's goal streak was snapped at six games.
• Makar returned to the lineup after being sidelined for five games with an upper-body injury that he sustained against St. Louis on Feb. 18. The defenseman was paired alongside Devon Toews totaled 22:27 minutes (1:24 on the power play,
• Georgiev made his 42nd start of the season.
• Kinkaid is the 43rd player to appear in a game for Colorado this season, extending the record (previous was 39) which ties Toronto forhttps://twitter.com/NHLleague-high in players used this season. Kinkaid is also the fifth goaltender the Avalanche have used this season.
• Colorado finished the game 1-for-2 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
• Valeri Nichushkin (illness), Pavel Francouz (lower body) and Darren Helm (lower body) were scratches for the Avalanche.

NEXT GAME:

The Avalanche complete the second leg of their away-and-home back-to-back set on Sunday evening as they host Seattle. The puck drops between the Avs and Kraken at 7:00 p.m. MT.