Jake Oettinger made 35 saves and stopped Nathan MacKinnon on the final shot of the shootout to lift the Dallas Stars over the Colorado Avalanche 5-4 in Denver on Saturday night.
Jason Robertson and Mikko Rantanen scored in the shootout for Dallas, which spoiled a big night for Colorado defenseman Brent Burns, who had his first assist with his new team.
Burns played in his 1,500th career game, eighth-most by a defenseman and 23rd for any player in NHL history. Burns, 40, also extended his consecutive games played streak to 928, which is the fourth-longest in league history and goes back to November 2013.
Nathan Bastian and Robertson scored late in the second period, Thomas Harley had a goal and an assist and Wyatt Johnston also scored for the Stars, who once again got the better of their division rival.
Dallas beat Colorado in the first round of the playoff last spring, getting a third-period hat trick from Rantanen for a 4-2 win in Game 7.
MacKinnon and Martin Necas each tallied one goal and two assists on Saturday for the Avalanche. Gavin Brindley scored his first NHL goal in his fourth career game and Artturi Lehkonen also had a goal for Colorado. Scott Wedgewood made 18 saves and another in the shootout.
Harley gave the Stars a 1-0 lead at 18:51 of the first period with his first goal of the season, but Necas tied it early in the second period when he roofed a shot over Oettinger at 3:54. It was his third of the season.
Brindley gave Colorado the lead midway through the second when Victor Olofsson flipped the puck to him in front of Oettinger and he tipped it over the goaltender’s pads at 10:07.
Bastian tied it again at 15:22 when he deflected Esa Lindell’s centering pass by Wedgewood for his first goal of the season. Robertson put Dallas back in front when he redirected Harley’s shot from the point at 18:25 of the second period.
Lehkonen’s second goal of the season tied the contest 34 seconds into the third period, but Johnston scored an unassisted goal 1:24 later to give the Stars the lead again.
MacKinnon evened it again with a power-play goal at 10:26 of the third period, his second of the season.
Robertson used a wrist shot to score in the opening round of the shootout, and he was matched by Colorado’s Valeri Nichushkin on a backhand shot in the second round. Rantanen followed with a wrist shot before Oettinger blocked MacKinnon’s backhand attempt.
–Field Level Media
