Kuemper, Avalanche shut out Stars to extend point streak to 19 games

DALLAS --Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves, and the Colorado Avalanche extended their point streak to 19 games in a 4-0 win against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on Sunday.

Gabriel Landeskog scored twice, Cale Makar had two assists, and Nathan MacKinnon had an assist for the Avalanche (34-8-4), who have not lost in regulation since a 5-2 loss to the Nashville Predators on Dec. 16.
MacKinnon returned after missing four games with a concussion and facial fracture sustained Jan. 26 against the Boston Bruins. In addition to an assist, the forward had three shots and was plus-2 in 17:45 of ice time.
"Felt great," MacKinnon said. "Better than I thought I would. Had some good legs, a lot of good looks. I thought our whole team played really well, so that made it easy for myself."
Braden Holtby made 26 saves in his first start since Jan. 26 for the Stars (25-19-2), who finished a six-game homestand 3-3-0.
"Where's our swagger? It wasn't there," Dallas coach Rick Bowness said. "It was there sporadically in the second, but it certainly wasn't there in the third. That has to come from within. When you get 20 guys playing with an aggressive mindset, we're a good hockey club. When we have 20 guys who aren't aggressive and on the same wavelength, we're not."

Landeskog gave Colorado a 1-0 lead at 5:31 of the first period when he deflected a point shot from MacKinnon.
"They're a quick team, they skate," Dallas forward Joe Pavelski said. "You don't win a lot of games from just playing offense. They check pretty hard. They don't turn a lot of pucks over. They've got a complete game going. It's similar to how we want to play. You want to play that 200-foot game and make teams go the length of the ice and compete. We can do a better job next time."
Nazem Kadri made it 2-0 at 11:51 when he took a pass from Makar at the top of the crease and scored five-hole to set an NHL career-high in points (62).
"It's in the back of your mind," Kadri said about setting a personal best this season. "You're mindful to it, but it's not something I focus on too much. I just feel like I'm in a zone right now, and the best way to continue that is to just to stay focused and not get too far ahead of yourself."
Colorado outshot Dallas 13-5 in the first period and 10-4 in the third period.
"I think with our forecheck, we were in their end a lot," MacKinnon said. "I think when they got the puck it was more at the end of their shifts, and they didn't have a ton of energy just from us hemming them in. As well as our amazing [defensemen] moving the puck out quick, they make it easy."

Nicolas Aube-Kubel scored to make it 3-0 at 13:50 of the third on a shot from the high slot.
"Our reloads, tracking, [defensive] gaps were outstanding," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "Our breakouts were great, in and out of our zone, especially [in the] third period. I thought the third period was the best defensive period we've played all year."
Landeskog scored an empty-net goal at 18:10 for the 4-0 final.
The Stars and Avalanche finish a home and home on Tuesday at Ball Arena in Denver.
"Play with a chip on your shoulder and take it to them," Dallas forward Michael Raffl said when asked about the team's approach. "They took two points out of our building. We're going to try to do the same."
NOTES: Dallas defenseman John Klingberg did not play due to an upper-body injury sustained Friday against the Winnipeg Jets. ... Stars forward Luke Glendening played his 600th NHL game. He played 554 games with the Detroit Red Wings from 2013-2021 and 46 with Dallas. … Landeskog has scored 11 points (eight goals, three assists) in his past eight games and scored two goals in a game for the second time this season and the second time in his past five games. … Kadri is on a seven-game point streak (five goals, six assists).