Lehtonen, Stars shut out Colorado, 3-0

The Dallas Stars are headed back home on a positive note, wrapping up a rough road trip with a 3-0 win at Colorado Saturday night.
The Stars, who had lost the first three games of the trip (0-2-1), won for just the second time in their last ten games in Denver.
"We didn't want to end the trip with a loss," said Stars forward Patrick Eaves. "We came out prepared and played a structured game tonight. That's what you've got to do on the road, and this building has been tough for us in the past."
Curtis McKenzie, Tyler Seguin, and Eaves scored goals, and Kari Lehtonen stopped 23 shots for his first shutout of the season.
"Today it was more like a whole team shutout," Lehtonen said.
The Stars (10-10-6) got a good all-around effort, grabbing the early lead and playing well with it. They allowed just 23 shots on goal and only ten over the final 40 minutes. The Stars didn't give up many quality chances, and they won the special teams battle, going 1-4 on the power play and 4-4 on the penalty kill.
"From start to finish, I thought we played the game the right way," said Stars coach Lindy Ruff. "We got the lead and continued to play the game the right way, which was real important. We didn't give up any big plays, and we got a big power play goal. I liked all three periods, and we were finally rewarded. It was good to see us play that well away from the puck."

The Avalanche (9-13-1) ended their five-game homestand with an 0-4-1 record. They were shut out for the fifth time this season.
"It's pretty similar to our last three or four. We're in a tough spot," said Avalanche forward Jarome Iginla. "This is a tough stretch not to be able to win some games on home ice in front of our fans and to climb back and take advantage of that. We all know what we let get away."
The Stars scored the only goal of the first period, and it came a little more than five minutes into the game. McKenzie put a shot on net, and the rebound bounced off traffic and past Semyon Varlamov at the 5:08 mark.
Lehtonen came up big late in the period, Iginla's bid from the slot with 32 seconds left in the first to keep it a 1-0 game heading into the second.
The Stars extended the lead to 2-0 with a power-play goal in the second period. Jamie Benn sent a cross-ice pass to Seguin, who blew a one-timer past Varlamov from the top of the left circle at the 6:02 mark.
The Stars allowed just five shots in the third period and killed off a late Colorado power play. Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie came close to making it a one-goal game, rattling a shot off the post with 1:43 remaining. But just 21 seconds later, Eaves scored into an empty net to seal the win and make it a 3-0 final and send the Stars home on a winning note.
"The last few games we were getting there and tonight we put together 60 minutes," said Seguin. "It is nice, and we have got to learn from this and keep going."
Sharp on IR with concussion-like symptoms
Stars forward Patrick Sharp went on injured reserve Saturday with concussion-like symptoms. He's on IR retroactive to Thursday, Dec. 1. Sharp missed 14 games earlier this season with a concussion.
"He has concussion symptoms. We don't know if it is related to the last one," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. "He's going to be evaluated, and obviously he is going to be out. It's something he missed a lot of time with and something we want to be really careful with."
Ruff said the Stars will make a decision in the days ahead about calling up a forward from the Texas Stars of the AHL.
Notes
\Colorado lost defenseman Erik Johnson for 6-8 weeks with a broken fibula after he was hit with a shot off the stick of Stars forward Tyler Seguin during Saturday's game.
\Saturday's win snapped a five-game road losing streak for the Stars.
\Kari Lehtonen's shutout was the 35th of his career.
\The Stars outshot the Avalanche 33-23 and had a 57-45 advantage in shot attempts.
\Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn and Lauri Korpikoski all had 6 shot attempts for Dallas.
\Seguin, Korpikoski and Curtis McKenzie all had 4 shots on goal.
\Seguin extended his points streak to 4 games (2 goals, 3 assists).
\The Stars were 1-4 on the power play and 4-4 on the penalty kill.
\The Stars won 22 of 53 faceoffs (42 percent).
\Devin Shore won 5 of 8 faceoffs (63 percent).
*John Klingberg led the Stars with 24:23 of ice time. Esa Lindell was next with 23:02.
What's Next
The Stars return home for games against Calgary (Tuesday) and Nashville (Thursday). The Stars play ten of their next 13 games at home.
Stars Lineup
Jamie Benn - Cody Eakin - Tyler Seguin
Lauri Korpikoski - Jason Spezza - Brett Ritchie
Antoine Roussel - Radek Faksa - Patrick Eaves
Curtis McKenzie - Devin Shore - Adam Cracknell
Esa Lindell - John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis - Julius Honka
Jordie Benn - Stephen Johns
Kari Lehtonen
Antti Niemi
Scratched: Patrick Nemeth, Jamie Oleksiak
Injured: Patrick Sharp (concussion-like symptoms), Johnny Oduya (lower body), Jiri Hudler (illness), Mattias Janmark (knee), Ales Hemsky (hip)
This story was not subject to approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club. Mark Stepneski is an independent writer whose posts on DallasStars.com reflect his own opinions and do not represent official statements from the Dallas Stars. You can follow Mark on Twitter @StarsInsideEdge.