Avalanche Rally Past Stars 3-2 In Shootout
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DALLAS (AP) - Maxime Talbot's first-ever shootout attempt earned Colorado an important point in a battle of playoff-chasing teams.
Talbot scored the winner in the 11th round of the shootout after Tyson Barrie tied it in the final minute of regulation, and the Avalanche rallied to beat the Dallas Stars 3-2 Tuesday night.
The Avalanche were down 2-0 in the third period in a matchup of teams that started the night tied with 53 points apiece in the Central Division and trying to climb into the postseason picture after slow starts.
"Well, we'll see at the end of the season how big they were," said Talbott, a 10-year veteran who said he'd taken two penalty shots in his career, but never a shootout try. "I think it's a sign that we can win some games sometimes maybe when you don't deserve as much."
Colorado matched a season low with 16 shots in regulation, but the last one was Barrie's one-timer from just inside the blue line with 19 seconds remaining. Ryan O'Reilly got the Avalanche within a goal 6:12 into the third.
Patrick Eaves scored on Dallas' suddenly potent power play, and Erik Cole added a goal late in the second period.
"You can't play any better and lose," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. "We gave up nothing for 60 minutes. The puck just can't get through us at the end (of regulation). That's just a tough one."
The Avalanche had just eight shots through two periods but turned up the pressure on Kari Lehtonen in the third, particularly after pulling goalie Semyon Varmalov in the final 2 minutes.
Colorado had several chances close to the net before Gabriel Landeskog ended up with the puck on the right circle and fed a pass to Barrie, who beat Lehtonen between the pads with 19 seconds remaining.
O'Reilly gave the Avs a chance to get even when he had an open net to Lehtonen's right on a shot by Brad Stuart that caromed off the boards behind the goal earlier in the third period.
"Obviously, struggling offensively we kind of knew we had to get more possession down low and a couple more shots on net," O'Reilly said. "But I think we regrouped in here, just got back to the little things of just competing, outwork them. It was nice to see us come back."
Nathan MacKinnon and Dallas' Tyler Seguin scored on consecutive shots early in the shootout before 11 straight misses. After goals were scored on four straight shots, a streak of three misses ended with Talbot's winner.
Varlamov saved 30 of 32 shots after getting his fourth shutout of the season in Colorado's previous game against Nashville.
Lehtonen had 22 saves after surviving a nine-shot barrage in overtime by the Avs, including two in the final 10 seconds from Barrie.
"We had a chance to be up maybe 4-1 or something like that, but their goalie was playing well and they got one at the end there," Lehtonen said. "Then it's anybody's game after that."
Eaves gave the Stars their seventh goal on the power play in the past three games when he scored on a pass from Jamie Benn 20 seconds after John Mitchell was called for hooking early in the first period. Dallas had just 26 power-play goals through the first 47 games.
Cole, back after missing three games with an upper-body injury, gave Dallas a sudden jolt near the end of a quiet second period. His 13th goal came after a pass from Nate Guenin deep in Colorado's defensive end deflected off the skate of Ales Hemsky, who gathered the puck and flipped a backhand pass to Cole in the high slot.
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