Avalanche Come Back to Stun Stars, 3-2 (SO) – Postgame

If you have any friends that are on the fence about liking hockey, this might be a game to show them.  It had goals, it had fights, it had incredible overtime and shootout play.  It had everything except a Stars victory.  The Avalanche came back late and stole the game in the shootout by a final score of 3-2.  The full recap is below.

Recap

The first period began and the Stars and their fans saw the success continue on the powerplay.  Patrick Eaves was once again the man to light the lamp on the powerplay and he put the Stars up 1-0 early in the game.  The action didn’t stop there.  Soon after the goal, Jarome Iginla and Antoine Roussel fought immediately following a faceoff and they would be at each other all night.  The first period scoring chances died off after that initial powerplay, but the physical play really picked up.  The hits went back and forth but the tempers never really flared to reach fighting levels after the Roussel/Iginla fight.  The Stars would take a 1-0 lead into the locker room at the end of the first.

The second period was much of the same for both teams.  The Stars really buckled down defensively and only allowed 8 shots on goal through the entire first two periods of play.  The action in the second dragged on until the Avalanche turned a puck over in their own zone to Ales Hemsky.  Hemsky was able to feed Erik Cole who scored in his first game since returning from an injury that kept him out for several games.  The Stars took a 2-0 lead to the third period.

The third period and a no-call turned the game around for the Avalanche.  It wasn’t the type of no-call you would expect, however.  Heading into a TV timeout, it had appeared that the Stars were being called for too many men on the ice and Colorado was headed to the powerplay.  The officials got together and determined that wasn’t the case, thus no powerplay was awarded to the Avalanche.  Immediately following the no-call, Ryan O’Reilly scored off a big kick off the boards to cut the Stars lead in half.  This wasn’t even halfway into the third but it put the Stars on their heels for the rest of the game.  The Avalanche pulled their goalie with around two minutes to go and seemingly spent forever in the Stars end of the ice.  That effort would eventually pay off, as Tyson Barrie blasted a slap shot from the point that found its way past Kari Lehtonen to tie the game with 19 seconds remaining.

The overtime and shootout periods were absolutely thrilling.  Both teams traded chances back and forth in the overtime and it is shocking that it didn’t end there.  The Stars and Avalanche went 11 rounds in the shootout before Maxime Talbot finally ended it with a goal to give Colorado the win and the full two points.

Thoughts and Observations

This one hurts, not only in the standings but they lost a game that pretty much everyone feels they should have won.  They were up 2-0 heading into the third, they had a one goal lead late as well.  The Avalanche just kept coming in the third and give them credit, they got it done.

Erik Cole was excellent and looked healthy in his first game back from injury and he got a goal in the game.

Despite losing the game, Kari Lehtonen was superb in both the overtime and shootout periods.  He deserved a better fate.

The Stars hit home ice again on Thursday when they take on the Tampa Bay Lightning, a game that features the top two offenses in the NHL.  Check back here at Blackout Dallas for more Stars news!