Avalanche lose to Stars, 19-game point streak ends

The Colorado Avalanche had their 19-game point streak end with a 4-1 loss to the Dallas Stars at Ball Arena in Denver on Tuesday.

"Somebody had to come in here and break the streak," Stars coach Rick Bowness said. "We're the team to do it."
Nathan MacKinnon scored, and Pavel Francouz made 16 saves for the Avalanche (34-9-4), who had their home point streak end at 22 (20-0-2). Colorado's last loss at home was Oct. 26, 3-1 to the Vegas Golden Knights.
"I thought we created plenty [of] scoring chances to win the hockey game," Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog said. "First period, we gave up odd-man rushes, which we don't like to do and shouldn't do. I thought after that we limited their scoring chances for the most part."
Jake Oettinger made an NHL career-high 46 saves, and Joe Pavelski scored twice for the Stars (26-19-2), who have won their past five road games.
"[Colorado is] the best team in hockey, and you're playing with, like, half your lungs out there pretty much (due to the altitude), so I knew I was going to have to weather the storm a little bit," Oettinger said. "The guys just did so many good things in front of me.
"If they let me see [the puck] and tie up guys around the net, then I think we'll have success. Ton of blocks, and a couple of saved goals, and all around it was just huge for our team."

Oettinger won his third straight start and fifth in his past six.
"I think it was the best performance I've ever seen from [Oettinger]," Stars forward Jason Robertson said. "Spectacular, it's great to see all his hard work pay off. He really was the key in getting us this win."
Pavelski gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 18:24 of the first period with a power-play goal from above the crease.Robertson scored to make it 2-0 at 4:26 of the second period after Pavelski took the puck from Francouz behind the net and passed out front.
"[Pavelski] just slowed down quickly, stayed in the corner of that zone (behind the net) where I can't play [the puck]," Francouz said. "I was just trying to get back. That was totally my fault. That's on me."
MacKinnon cut the lead to 2-1 on a shot from the top of the face-off circles 46 seconds later.
Pavelski made it 3-1 at 12:38 with his second power-play goal of the game. Seguin scored into the empty net at 18:37 of the third period for the 4-1 final.
"I don't think we did enough around the net to make it difficult enough on Oettinger," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "Five-on-5, though, I liked our game. I thought it was good. No problems with it at all. At the end of the day, we gave them one, right? [Francouz] behind the goal line, we handed them that one. They got a power-play goal, one I think is goalie interference, and then they got an empty net. They won the special teams battle tonight."

NOTES: Pavelski's first goal was his 20th of the season. He has scored at least 20 in 12 of 16 NHL seasons, and is the third active United States-born player to do so (Patrick Kane, 13; Phil Kessel, 12). Pavelski is the third Stars/Minnesota North Stars player to score 20 at 37 or older, joining Dean Prentice (1971-72, 1972-73) and Mike Modano (2007-08). … Seguin has scored eight points (four goals, four assists) in his past six games. … MacKinnon has scored a point in consecutive games (one goal, one assist) after missing four games with a concussion and facial fracture sustained Jan. 26 against the Boston Bruins.