Stars
Sam’s Story: Stars Outplay Avs, Can’t Solve Georgiev in 4-1 Loss
The Dallas Stars outplayed the Colorado Avalanche despite playing the second night of a back-to-back with travel. But a solid performance from Avs goaltender Alexander Georgiev is enough to secure a victory for Colorado.
One team dominated most of the play on Saturday when the Dallas Stars traveled to take on the Colorado Avalanche. So it had to be the defending champion Avs, who did not play last night and had an easier travel schedule, right?
Wrong.
The Stars, coming off an overtime battle with Winnipeg on Friday, were the better team in this game. They reached 40 shots, won 63% of the faceoffs, and their special teams kept up with Colorado (each with one power-play goal). So all is well, right?
Wrong again.
Avs goaltender Alexander Georgiev had an answer for 41 of 42 Dallas shots. When the Stars got things going at the end of the first period and dominated most of the middle frame, it was Georgiev that shut the door.
In the second period, Dallas threw 20 shots at Georgiev. 15 of those came on the over eight minutes of power-play time that Dallas had. If they were going to get back in the game, that was the time to do it.
Before the Avs tallied their fourth, it felt like perhaps we would see yet another third-period Stars comeback this week. Dallas trailed 3-1 but had the better of the chances and seemed just one bounce away from making things very interesting.
But after their surge returned no results, the Stars looked to lose energy.
Dallas began the third period with back-to-back minor penalties, two of their four shorthanded situations in the game.
While the Avs did not convert on either chance, they did suck the life out of Dallas and Logan O’Connor’s goal at the seven-minute mark gave Colorado a 4-1 lead, more than enough to secure a victory as the Stars showed signs of fatigue at the tail end of their back-to-back.
Jason Robertson recorded a secondary assist on Joe Pavelski’s power-play goal in the second period. The point extended his streak to 15 games, as he builds on his Dallas Stars record and continues to chase down Brian Bellows for the franchise mark (20).
Sam’s Three Stars
- First Star: Alexander Georgiev, COL (41 saves on 42 shots, .976%)
- Second Star: Josh Manson, COL (1 goal, 1 assist)
- Third Star: Nathan Mackinnon, COL (1 goal)
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