National Hockey League
Dallas 3, Colorado 1
When: 8:00 PM ET, Saturday, October 14, 2017
Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas
Referees: Frederic L'Ecuyer, Gord Dwyer
Linesmen: Pierre Racicot, Mark Shewchyk
Attendance: 17967

DALLAS -- Stars coach Ken Hitchcock won his 783rd career game and passed Al Arbour for the third-most wins in NHL history with a 3-1 win against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday.

Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin each had a goal and an assist for Dallas, while Ben Bishop made 21 saves in the victory.

Seguin also had his first career fight in the third period against former teammate Patrik Nemeth, giving the center his first career Gordie Howe hat trick.

"I didn't even realize it was a Gordie Howe hat trick until they said it on the three stars," Seguin said. "That's a first. Might hashtag it tonight. Probably never happen again."

The fight impressed his captain.

"He's taken a bigger role on this team," Benn said. "He's playing in different situation, he's wearing a letter, he's being a leader now. It's fun to see, he's going to get better as the year goes on."

Semyon Varlamov made 33 saves for Colorado and kept his team in the game on the second night of a back-to-back.

Dallas scored early and late in the second period as it took a 2-0 lead.

Benn carried the puck into the zone on a 2-on-1 with Alexander Radulov and beat Varlamov with a wrist shot on the stick side 24 seconds into the second period.

"Just kind of reading off the D-man, kind of looking at him to see his gap and felt like he gave me a little too much room and I decided to shoot," Benn said.

Seguin pushed the lead to 2-0 with one second remaining in the period when he scored a power-play goal at 19:59. The Stars could have let time run out on the period, but won two puck battles and Devin Shore quickly set up Seguin for the shot before time expired.

"I peaked and I saw there was maybe 6, 7 seconds left," Seguin said. "So when Shoresy was coming to me I was trying to get it off as quick as I could. Heck of a pass, especially when he knows it's about to end as well and it was timely goal for us, literally."

With that goal, the Stars now have power-play goals in five straight games.

Matt Duchene cut the lead to 2-1 at 1:26 of the third period on a wrist shot during a delayed penalty.

"We were too cute. You can't play like that for 40 minutes against this team," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "I liked everything about the third period, but that was too little, too late."

Esa Lindell scored into the empty net with 38.5 seconds remaining to give Dallas a 3-1 win.

Bishop was the less busy goalie, but came up big when he needed to.

At 12:34 of the second period, Stars defenseman Dan Hamhuis turned the puck over in his own zone, setting up a mini breakaway for J.T. Compher. Bishop was patient on the play and made the blocker save to protect a 1-0 lead.

Dallas outshot Colorado 14-4 in the first period and had several opportunities to take the lead.

Shore hit the crossbar on a power-play wrist shot with 6:06 remaining in the period. The Stars' fourth-line consisting of Tyler Pitlick, Radek Faksa and Antoine Roussel had a couple point-blank chances late in the period, but Varlamov made a key sprawling save on Roussel with 1:29 remaining in the period.

NOTES: Avalanche C Nathan MacKinnon played one night after leaving a 3-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks with an eye injury. MacKinnon, who got hit in the eye with a stick, was cleared late Friday and wasn't having any vision issues. ... D Patrik Nemeth returned to Dallas for the first time since getting claimed on waivers by the Avalanche on Oct. 3. Nemeth spent the past five seasons in the Stars organization. ... Stars D Dan Hamhuis returned to the lineup after missing two games with a groin injury.
Top Game Performances
 
Colorado   Dallas
Matt Duchene 1 Points Jamie Benn 2
Matt Duchene 1 Goals Jamie Benn 1
Tyson Barrie 1 Assists Devin Shore 2
N/A Power Play Goals Tyler Seguin 1
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Semyon Varlamov .943 Save Percentage Ben Bishop .957
Semyon Varlamov 33 Saves Ben Bishop 22
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Colorado 23 1 0-4 5-6 17 33
Dallas 36 3 1-6 4-4 13 36
Upcoming Games
  • Dallas will play their next game at home against Arizona. The Stars have a W/L % of .000 after a win and .500 after a loss.
  • Colorado will play their next game on the road against Nashville. The Avalanche have a W/L % of .600 after a win and 1.000 after a loss.