MacKinnon scores in OT, Avalanche rally past Stars

DALLAS -- Nathan MacKinnon scored his second goal of the game at 3:40 of overtime, and the Colorado Avalanche rallied to defeat the Dallas Stars 5-4 at American Airlines Center on Thursday.

MacKinnon, who was named to the 2024 NHL All-Star Game prior to puck drop, won it on a 2-on-0 rush after Mikko Rantanen tied it with 1:09 left in the third period.

“I thought we played a really solid game, a couple of breakdowns. But overall, I thought, we're going toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the league,” MacKinnon said. “That's all we can really ask for. We’re not going to dominate Dallas or any top team most likely, so you have to win like this.”

Jonathan Drouin scored twice, and Jack Johnson had two assists for the Avalanche (25-11-3), who have won consecutive overtime games (5-4 against New York Islanders on Tuesday) and extended their point streak to seven games. Alexandar Georgiev made 28 saves.

“I liked the way our guys responded. They just kept playing their game. Little bit more intensity as the game went on for our team, which led to some scoring chances,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “We started putting some pucks to the net, and we got rewarded for it. Good hard-fought game by both teams, I thought. Really close one, kind of what I was expecting.”

Tyler Seguin scored twice, and Matt Duchene and Mason Marchment each had two assists for the Stars (22-10-5). Scott Wedgewood made 29 saves.

Rantanen tied it 4-4 at 18:49 when the puck deflected in off his skate during a scramble in the crease while playing 6-on-5.

“Everyone yelled ‘behind’, so I just jumped to the left post, because that’s where the tip was. Didn’t realize it went off my pad and over my head somehow,” Wedgewood said. “I thought [the puck] was somewhere on my left side. Unfortunately, the referee couldn’t see it under my shoulder, but when I got up, it was [over the goal line].”

Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen left the game with a lower-body injury at 1:19 of the third after a hard collision with Wedgewood in the crease. There was no update after the game.

Evgenii Dadonov gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 11:57 in the first period when he intercepted a pass by Colorado forward Ross Colton and tapped it into the open net.

MacKinnon tied it 1-1 at 13:44 when his shot deflected off Stars defenseman Ryan Suter and past Wedgewood.

“Their best players and their best line had all five goals,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. “So, one, you have to find a way to make sure we do a better job containing them; and two, games like this, your best players have to be your best players. Their guys were better than ours tonight.”

Seguin put the Stars back in front 2-1 at 1:28 of the second period, pulling the puck backhand to forehand in the low slot.

Joe Pavelski made it 3-1 with a one-timer on the power play at 10:10 off a cross-ice pass by Duchene.

“They got a good team over there. They’re experienced. We knew that going in, we had them in a good spot. Mistook a few plays there and didn’t finish them off, and they just hung around,” Pavelski said. “We had our looks, had our chances. You want to shut it down when you’ve got that one-goal lead there, but we’ll take a look at it and see what happens and move on.”

Drouin cut it to 3-2 with 12 seconds left in the period when he tapped in a rebound behind Wedgewood on the power play at 19:48.

Seguin made it 4-2 at 9:07 in the third period, toe dragging the rebound of his own shot around Georgiev off the rush.

Drouin scored his second to make it 4-3 38 seconds later at 9:45 when he deflected a point shot by Johnson.

“I think we have a tough schedule coming up at home and before the break. Winning a game like this should give a lot of confidence and shows us that we can come back,” Rantanen said. “Even though there’s tough times in the game, we just stick with it and come back.”

NOTES: Injured Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger was also selected to the All-Star Game. ... MacKinnon became the second player in franchise history to score overtime goals in consecutive regular-season games (Greg De Vries, 2003). He also recorded his 64th point, surpassing Rantanen (61 in 2018-19) for the most prior to the 40-game mark in Avalanche history (since 1995-96). … Colorado defenseman Bowen Byram sustained a lower-body injury at 3:16 of the third. Bednar had no update.