Harley, Stars get past Avalanche in shootout

DENVER -- Thomas Harley had a goal and an assist, helping the Dallas Stars to a 5-4 shootout win against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on Saturday.

“Tonight was kind of like holding back an avalanche, but happy we've got [Jake Oettinger] back there to bail us out,” Harley said. “We’ll take the two points, obviously, but there's some things we’ve got to clean up and do better.”

Nathan Bastian, Wyatt Johnston and Jason Robertson scored, and Oettinger made 35 saves for the Stars (2-0-0). Mikko Rantanen had an assist and scored the deciding goal in the shootout against his former team.

“We were outplayed,” Dallas coach Glen Gulutzan said. “Listen, I'm just going to state the obvious here. I don't know if I've seen a goalie performance like that since Jake Oettinger against Calgary (in the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs). At some point, I was watching him play a game like that, and I thought, 'Wow.' And that's what I think tonight. He stole us the game, plain and simple. He stole us the game, and there's probably nothing else to talk about personnel-wise other than that.”

Oettinger preserved the 4-4 tie with 39 seconds left in overtime when he did the splits and made a glove save on Martin Necas’ wrist shot from the bottom of the right circle. It was his only save of overtime after he made 14 in the third period.

Nathan MacKinnon and Necas each had a goal and two assists, and Gavin Brindley scored his first NHL goal for the Avalanche (2-0-1). Scott Wedgewood made 18 saves.

“I really liked the way we played tonight, like the things that we talked about after Game 2, we were so much better at,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "Our most dangerous offensive game of the year, by a mile. It's a frustrating team to play because they capitalize on every opportunity they get, their goalie makes big saves, and their special teams are really good, right?”

Harley made it 1-0 at 18:51 of the first period. He stepped into Rantanen’s drop pass and scored with a slap shot short side past the glove.

“I think we expect more of ourselves than that,” Harley said. “They pretty thoroughly outplayed us, and we have to do a better job of breaking the puck out, forechecking and just kind of making smart decisions.”

Necas tied it 1-1 at 3:54 of the second period. MacKinnon sent a crossing pass to him at the bottom of the right circle, and Necas put a wrist shot over the glove of a sprawling Oettinger.

Brindley gave Colorado a 2-1 lead at 10:07, scoring through the five-hole from the top of the crease off Victor Olofsson’s centering pass. Brindley was playing his fourth NHL game and third with the Avalanche.

"It was great. [He was] tenacious, relentless on pucks,” Bednar said. “Goes to the inside, scores it right at the top of the paint. Big goal for us, and yeah, I think he continues to play well.”

Bastian tied it 2-2 at 15:22 when he posted up at the top of the crease and knocked Lindell’s centering pass through the five-hole.

Robertson put the Stars ahead 3-2 at 18:25, deflecting Harley’s point shot short side over the blocker.

“There's a little extra when we play ‘Wedgie’,” Harley said of Wedgewood, who played for Dallas for three seasons (2021-24). “That was my first one against him, so I was happy with that, but ‘Robo’ has his number, which is funny."

Artturi Lehkonen tied it 3-3 at 34 seconds of the third when he one-timed MacKinnon’s centering pass at the left post.

“It was a fun game,” MacKinnon said. “Crowd was into it. We played really well. Just one of those nights. Bad bounces. Wedgie’s been amazing. Not saying he wasn't good tonight, just weird bounces. Just one of those games.”

Dallas went back in front 4-3 at 1:58 when Johnston scored on a breakaway. He blocked Devon Toews’ shot at the Stars blue line, skated onto the puck in the offensive zone and deked left before going to his right and scoring around the left leg of Wedgewood.

“Honestly, I was worried my stick was broken, so I knew I wasn't going to shoot,” Johnston said. “I knew I was going to deke, and so that's kind of my go-to deke if I'm not going to shoot. Usually, I like to shoot on breakaways and situations like that, but I had no clue if my stick was still in good shape. So lucky enough, it was. But yeah, I kind of just tried to make a move not have to put too much pressure on my stick.”

MacKinnon tied it 4-4 with a power-play goal at 10:46. Necas fed him at the left dot for a one-timer that went short side over the blocker.

“I thought [the power play] was really good tonight,” MacKinnon said after Colorado went 1-for-5 with the man-advantage. “Lot of great chances. I know we were getting booed. I guess they don't really know what a good power play looks like. We had a ton of chances and just nothing was going in, and we finally got one. So I guess they’ve got to boo us more.”

NOTES: Avalanche defenseman Brent Burns played his 1,500th NHL game, becoming the 23rd player, eighth defenseman and only active player to reach the milestone. He was minus-2 with an assist and three shots on goal in 20:35 of ice time. … MacKinnon had his 99th career three-point game. He’s one away from becoming the third player in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques franchise history to reach 100 (Joe Sakic, 158; Peter Stastny, 128). … MacKinnon extended his home point streak against Dallas to 14 games, which is tied for the second-longest active home point streak against an opponent (Patrick Kane against the Vancouver Canucks). Nikita Kucherov has the longest (15 games against the Buffalo Sabres). … Oettinger had 50 saves in Game 4 and 64 saves in Game 7 against the Flames in the 2022 Western Conference First Round, a series the Stars lost.