The Dallas Stars did their damage early and the Colorado Avalanche were unable to play catchup in a 3-2 loss in Dallas Thursday night. Dallas scored all three of their goals in the first period while the Colorado offense again looked sluggish in the early going.
Johnny Oduya and Brett Ritchie scored approximately two minutes apart midway through the first period to give Dallas the early lead. Ritchie’s goal came on the power play after a Nikita Zadorov hooking penalty. It was the first of two times Zadorov was whistled in the period. Patrick Eaves added another power play goal in the final minute of the period to extend the Dallas lead to three.
Nathan MacKinnon scored a gritty shorthanded goal in the second period to give Colorado life. He assisted on Mikhail Grigorenko‘s third-period goal as well in what was probably his best game of the season so far. Still, it was not enough as Colorado’s offense could not overcome the team’s seven penalties in the game – three by Zadorov.
Matt Duchene was held out again as he recovers from a head injury. Gabriel Landeskog was also scratched with a lower body injury. Landeskog remained in Denver for treatment as the team traveled to Dallas but could rejoin the team in Minnesota on Saturday, per the Denver Post.
The Avalanche and Wild skate at 6:00 p.m. Saturday.
