Despite a valiant third-period comeback, the Avalanche lost 5-3 to the Stars in Game Two of the second round and will head back to Denver tied at one game apiece.
Joel Kiviranta, Brandon Duhaime, and Valeri Nichushkin scored for Colorado.
Miro Heiskanen opened the scoring with a right-circle one-timer on the power play at 14:46 of the first period.
Roope Hintz doubled Dallas’ lead with a wrist shot from below the right circle at 1:57 of the second period.
Heiskanen scored his second power-play goal of the game with a wrist shot through traffic at 15:54 of the second period to put the Stars up 3-0.
Tyler Seguin made it a 4-0 game with a short-handed goal at 18:06 of the second period with a wrist shot from the high slot.
Kiviranta, who returned after a three-game absence due to injury, scored his first goal of the playoffs with a backhand rebound from the right doorstep at 4:06 of the third period.
Just under four minutes later, Duhaime scored his first-career playoff goal with a wrist shot from the slot at 8:00 of the third period to cut the Dallas lead to two.
Nichushkin put Colorado within one when he scored his ninth goal of the playoffs at 16:16 of the third period when a left-circle shot from Artturi Lehkonen deflected off his leg and in. With that goal, Nichushkin tied the NHL record for the longest goal streak to start the playoffs at seven games and tied the franchise record for the longest playoff goal streak.
Dallas added another tally at 19:36 when Esa Lindell scored on an empty net.
Game Three is at Ball Arena in Denver on Saturday at 8 p.m. MT and will be broadcast on TNT, truTV, MAX, SN, SN1, and TVAS.
