Dallas Stars keeps playoffs’ hope alive by beating Colorado Avalanche for first time by 4-2 –NHL Update
Dallas Stars shined brightly on Thursday after it defeated Colorado Avalanche for the first time this season after being dominated twice earlier. They kept their playoffs’ hopes alive after diverting Avalanche by 4-2 at the American Airlines Centre in Dallas,
Texas.
Dallas remains just two points below eighth placed Chicago Blackhawks, also fighting to maintain its hard earned playoff berth.
Anaheim eliminated Calgary in its last matchup against San Jose Sharks by widening the margin which became unshakable for Flames which has only one game left.
Both, Stars and Blackhawks, have two games remaining and Chicago winning even one of those would throw Dallas out of the race.
"It was a good win. I thought that our start was really impressive", Stars’ coach, Marc Crawford, said. "They want nothing more than to win for each other. That's a powerful quality to have as a group".
Tom Wandell put Dallas ahead by scoring his seventh of the season, unassisted.
His slap shot from 30 feet away shook Avalanche’s goalie, Brian Elliott, as the puck fired through his side, into the net. Elliot managed to make 33 saves of a total of 37 shots fired at his goal.
Stars’ left winger, Loui Eriksson, extended the lead to 2-0 just 52 seconds after Wandell’s first goal, blasting a shot from the left circle, again with an assist from Elliott.
Colorado’s defenseman, Ryan O'Byrne, had a tough time dealing with all the penalties awarded against him.
He gave over six minutes of power-play time during the match but luckily for him, the home team was able to capitalise on only one of them.
Brandon Yip scored his 10th of the season to lessen the gap created by Dallas, midway through the second period.
Philippe Dupuis fed him the puck from nearly halfway past the ice as he saw him standing wide open from the low slot.
Avalanche was pumped up before going into the third and final period, knowing that it had conquered Dallas two times earlier and pulling it off again would not be a problem.
Brenden Morrow washed away Avalanche’s hopes of recovering by scoring his 31st in the opening minute of the final period on O'Byrne’s second penalty.
Mark Olver once again lifted Avalanche within a goal’s reach by tying the scores, midway through the third period, but Brad Richards answered nearly a minute later to insure the match would be Dallas’s for the taking.
Stars’ captain, Jamie Benn, got his second assist of the night after Richards upholding goal.
Stars’ goalie, Kari Lehtonen, made 21 saves with a .913 save percentage while Stars’ forward, Adam Burish, returned after missing 11 games in a row due to a leg injury and is expected to continue playing with his team when they go against Avalanche again
on Friday.
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