Final
Dallas 4 – Colorado 2
Needing wins in all three of their remaining games, the Dallas Stars completed step one of the their playoff plan with a 4-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche last night. The Stars got goals from Tom Wandell, Loui Eriksson, Brenden Morrow, and Brad Richards.
The final regular season home game started out very slow for the Stars, as they didn’t seem to play with much urgency. Things didn’t start to pick up until midway through the first period when Dallas really started to put pressure on Colorado’s net. Dallas took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.
Colorado was able to make a small comeback in the 2nd period as it seemed Dallas was just sitting on their 2-0 lead. Brandon Yip put in Colorado’s first goal and made Stars fans sweat a bit.
The Stars were able to get in an early goal in the third period that restored their two goal lead and Dallas was able to maintain it throughout the rest of the game before finishing up with a 4-2 win. Mark Olver scored the other goal for Colorado.
Adam Burrish retuned to the lineup for the Stars and played 7:27 minutes of ice time. He didn’t record any shots, but got in two hits and won all three of the face-offs that he was put in.
With the win, the Dallas Stars move within two points of the Chicago Blackhawks and Anaheim Ducks and four points behind the Phoenix Coyotes and Nashville Predators. Chicago has two remaining games against Detroit; Anaheim has two against Los Angeles; Phoenix has two against San Jose and Nashville will play Columbus and St. Louis.
The Stars will need a lot of help from other theams, but they can potentially reach anywhere from the fifth to the eighth seed in the West.
Dallas heads to Colorado to play round 2 against the Avalanche tonight at 8:00 p.m CT.
Game Stats and Scoring Summary
| Dallas | Colorado | |
| Score | ||
| Shots | ||
| Penalty Minutes | ||
| Power Plays | ||
| Blocked Shots | ||
| Hits | ||
| Faceoff Wins |
1st Period:
- 15:16 Tom Wandell (7) Dallas 1 – Colorado 0
Unassisted
- 16:51 Loui Eriksson (26) Dallas 2 – Colorado 0
Assists: Jamie Benn, Brad Richards
2nd Period:
- 10:15 Brandon Yip (10) Dallas 2 – Colorado 1
Assists: Philippe Dupuis, Matt Duchene
3rd Period:
- 0:52 Brenden Morrow (31) (Power Play) Dallas 3 – Colorado 1
Assists: Loui Eriksson, Mike Ribeiro
- 11:06 Mark Olver (2) Dallas 3 – Colorado 2
Assists: Ryan Wilson, Matt Duchene
- 12:21 Brad Richards (27) Dallas 4 – Colorado 2
Assists: Jamie Benn
