In Denver, the Colorado Avalanche could not build off a 2-0 lead in the first period on Tuesday night. In fact, they could not do anything as the visiting Dallas Stars rallied to tie the game win it in extra time, 3-2.
Esa Lindell finished the rally with a strike at 1:54 of the extra session.
“I was trying to make the play, and then I was right in the slot and just tried to shoot hard,” Lindell said. “I just thought to shoot glove side. It’s always fun to score, especially in overtime. It doesn’t happen too often, so you’ll take it every time.
“I bet everyone knows the standings and how tight they are, they were a point behind us (in the Central Division) and it was like a playoff game for us. We didn’t start really well, but when the game went along, we just kept getting better.”
Ben Bishop made 41 saves in the win.
“They’ve had some struggles at home lately,” Dallas coach Rick Bowness said. “We knew that going into the third. We knew it was going to be the last time we see them until the playoffs, if that’s what happens, so we had to give it our best.”
Nikita Zadorov and Gabriel Landeskog scored in the opening frame for the Avs.
“We knew that wasn’t our best,” Bishop said. “Obviously, we wanted to come out and look a little better, but they played a really good period and kind of threw it all at us. We knew that we had to be better, so it was kind of one of those things where you come in and regroup. It was only 2-0, we still had 40 minutes to play.”
Denis Gurianov scored in the second period and Jason Dickinson tied it up in the third.
[WATCH: All Stars vs. Avalanche highlights]
Philipp Grubauer made 27 saves in the loss.
“I think we played really good the whole game,” Grubauer said. “I don’t think we gave up too many chances. We worked on the D-zone coverage a little bit and how we played off the rush. I think that was one of our better games.
“A little bit unlucky, we hit two posts in the second period that went out, they hit one in overtime and it went in, so that’s how it goes. I think we can build on the last couple of games even though we lost. You’ve got to move forward.”
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