NHL - Colorado Avalanche @ Dallas Stars - Saturday, January 23, 2016

Semyon Varlamov made 42 saves, Gabriel Landeskog scored the go-ahead goal midway through the second period and the Avalanche defeated the Stars 3-1 at American Airlines Center. Landeskog broke a 1-1 tie when he scored a shorthanded goal, beating Stars goaltender Antti Niemi over his blocker after John Klingberg was unable to corral a carom off the boards near the Avalanche blue line.
Carl Soderberg had a first-period shorthanded goal, and Mikhail Grigorenko scored with 5:51 left in the third period for Colorado, which won its fourth straight game overall and eighth in a row against Dallas. Niemi made 12 saves for Dallas, which got a power-play goal from Jason Demers at 7:24 of the second period. The Stars had 106 shot attempts; Colorado blocked 32 and 31 others missed the net. Dallas was 1-for-5 on the power play; the Stars are 4-for-33 (12.1 percent) in their past 12 games.

Dallas, which outshot Colorado 43-15, had the better of play in the first period. But Colorado skated off with a 1-0 lead after Soderberg scored his shorthanded goal with 53 seconds remaining. After Jason Spezza couldn't control the puck near his own blue line, Soderberg gained possession, evaded Jamie Benn along the boards and roofed a wrist shot to beat Niemi inside the far post. The goal came 37 seconds after Nick Holden was called for hooking.
The Stars tied it on Demers' power-play goal. Varlamov stopped Ales Hemsky's shot from the left point and Antoine Roussel's attempt to poke in the rebound at the near post, but Demers was able to knock in the second rebound. Colorado regained the lead at 10:12 when Landeskog took a wrist shot from the slot that went over Niemi's blocker for his 11th goal of the season. Klingberg took full responsibility for Landeskog's goal.
Varlamov made 33 saves Friday In a 2-1 shootout win against the St. Louis Blues at Pepsi Center, giving him 75 in the back-to-back wins. Colorado continues its three-game road trip Tuesday at the San Jose Sharks. Dallas concludes its three-game homestand Monday against the Calgary Flames.

Stars Quotes

Lindy Ruff: "That first [power-play] unit, we may have to shake it up. It's gotten a little bit stale. It's gotten a little bit slow, not real quick on the entries and not generating enough opportunities. You look at the shorthanded goals, there's always some risk involved when you're playing four forwards. I take that risk and that risk in on me because I just feel that's the best opportunity for us."
Jason Demers: "Right before I put it in, [Soderberg] kind of high-sticked me, just tried to get under my stick, and just knocked one of my teeth. It's a temporary tooth anyway. It's a cap, but it didn't feel too good. It's part of the game and it happens. I'm sure he was just trying to get under my stick."
John Klingberg: "I think it's a tough play. I have to keep the puck in the zone. It hits my shoulder and obviously they got a breakaway on it."

Avs Quotes

Gabriel Landeskog: "He's our best player. Landeskog said of Varlamov. "He certainly played like it tonight. He kind of gives off that calm aura around him that nothing really fazes him. It doesn't matter how many shots he faced. He played well and I think our defense did a great job. I just managed to poke it by Klingberg there at the blue line and realized I was on my own. I kind of had my mind made up already what I was doing coming in on [Niemi]."
Patrick Roy: "We scored two shorthanded goals. It was a momentum-changer in my opinion. It's one of the better power plays in our League. It could have given them some momentum and give them the win easily because they're capable of scoring a lot of goals on their power play. It's a good win for us. Just want to continue [playing well], there's a lot of hockey to be played. We have two games before the All-Star Game and they'll be important games for us."
Semyon Varlamov: "I think we almost died after the second period. We took too many penalties and then they were all over us. Thank God that we scored. I'm pretty tired after back-to-back games. Those were very intense games for us. We played last night. We came here in Dallas late. That was a short night. Today was a tough game also."