Necas Scores Twice, Blackwood Shines as Avalanche Defeats Stars 3-2

Two Points in Texas

Martin Necas' two goals and Mackenzie Blackwood's 24 saves helped the Avalanche win 3-2 against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on Tuesday. Artturi Lehkonen scored for Colorado, while Nathan MacKinnon posted two assists.

“I’m really happy with our game," Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar said. "I liked to see Mackenzie bounce back after the [Toronto Maple] Leafs game. He had a great night. Probably his best performance of the year. It was a hard-fought game for this time of the year. The most physical game that we’ve played.” 

With the win, the Avalanche improved to 4-2-0.

How It Happened

Blackwood made several key saves early in the first period, including on Tyler Seguin and Colin Blackwell's shots from the slot at 1:47 and 7:18, respectively.

The Avs opened the scoring at 11:32 of the first period when Lehkonen scored his fourth goal of the season via a backhand shot from the slot.

With the teams playing at four-on-four, Blackwood kept the Avs in front with a save on Arttu Hyry's right-circle shot off the rush.

Seguin tied the game with a power-play goal at 19:06 of the first period when his pass from above the left goal line deflected into the net.

After series of silky maneuvers capped off by a spin move from Necas, he gave the Avs a 2-1 lead at 3:05 of the second period with his third goal of the season via a one-timer from the high slot set up by MacKinnon's backhand feed.

Necas doubled Colorado's lead on a five-on-three power play with his second goal of the game and fifth of the season at 16:14 of the middle frame via a one-timer from the left doorstep after receiving Gabriel Landeskog's feed.

Blackwood kept Colorado ahead by two late in the middle frame with a glove save on Sam Steel's breakaway at 17:37 and a stop on Justin Hryckowian's one-timer from the slot at 19:36.

At 3:17 of the third period, Roope Hintz scored for Dallas to make it 3-2 via a left-circle shot.

Noah Juulsen made a huge block when he denied Jamie Benn's one-timer from the high slot at 13:44 of the final frame.

Next Up

The Avalanche hosts the Stars on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. MDT on TNT, truTV, HBO Max, Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM and the Altitude Sports Radio App.