The Colorado Avalanche attempted another comeback win but fell short in the 5-3 loss to the Dallas Stars Thursday night. Penalties and mistakes gave the Stars' special teams the advantage, costing the Avs Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Stars forward Miro Heiskanen scored two power-play goals and Tyler Seguin netted a shorthanded goal. Roope Hintz scored the only even-strength goal for the Stars which put them up 4-0 after the second period.
"The second period though, for me, is where it fell apart. Just not sharp. I mean, just go to the penalties alone and it shows you're not sharp ... So it's eight minutes of power play you’re giving a really good power-play team," head coach Jared Bednar said. "And the rest of our execution and frustration kind of keeps building from there. Did not like the second period at all."
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Forward Joel Kiviranta, who returned after missing three games to injury, opened scoring for the Avalanche four minutes into the final frame. Brandon Duhaime scored his first career playoff goal four minutes later and a deflection from Valeri Nichushkin on Artturi Lehkonen's shot brought the game within one.
"It looked like we wanted to attack and force them to make mistakes, and that's when we're at our best. So guys did a really good job of making plays," Cale Makar said. "And when we move our feet, we exploit them and find open seams. So a lot of guys made some great plays on those goals. And again, that's a one positive you can take out of tonight but again move on.”
The Stars kept the Avs' top line from getting scoring chances and production came too late in the game.
"It just seems we weren’t skating enough with the puck and we weren’t getting separation from them. They were doing a good job checking," Andrew Cogliano said. "Yeah, we have to support the puck a little bit better, we have to get our legs moving and get more of a north game with our legs and our skating. I think a combination of both probably is what didn’t help us in the first period and put us behind."
The Avalanche head back to Denver to face off against the Stars in Game 3 on Saturday night at Ball Arena.
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