Avs knock down Stars, 5-2 Avs, Stars tied for second in Central

In Denver, Nathan MacKinnon hit for a double on Saturday to help the Avalanche to a 5-2 win over the visiting Dallas Stars.

Alexandar Georgiev made 26 saves in the win.

Colorado improved to 45-24-6.

MacKinnon scored in the opening stanza for a 1-0 lead to the Avs.

Logan O’Connor pushed the advantage to 2-0 early in the middle frame before Tyler Seguin scored to trim the deficit to 2-1 for Dallas.

Dallas dropped to 41-21-14.

MacKinnon’s second came off the power play to give the Avs a 3-1 lead.

The game stayed that way into the latter minutes of the third period when Valeri Nichushkin hit for an empty-net strike at 16:55 for a 4-1 lead.

Dallas’ Joe Pavelski cut the deficit to 4-2, before Mikko Rantanen added a second empty-netter for the 5-2 final.

Backroads GuitarsJake Oettinger made 27 saves in the loss.