Lehkonen's 4 points help Avalanche defeat Stars

DENVER -- Artturi Lehkonen had two goals and two assists for the Colorado Avalanche in a 6-3 win against the Dallas Stars at Ball Arena on Saturday.

Cale Makar scored twice, including his 100th NHL goal in his 362nd game, becoming the sixth-fastest defenseman in League history to reach the milestone.

“It's certainly impressive. You think how long the League's been around,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “I'm a little biased, but you're watching one of the best defensemen that's ever played the game. There's no question. And the League has a handful of guys that are super dynamic right now. I think that that's a trend that we're going to see moving forward, but in my opinion, he's the best of the best.”

Jonathan Drouin and Casey Mittelstadt each had a goal and two assists for the Avalanche (28-18-1), who had lost two of their past three. Josh Manson had two assists, and Scott Wedgewood made 26 saves in his first start since sustaining an ankle injury against the Buffalo Sabres on Jan. 2.

“He hasn't played since [the 6-5 overtime win against] Buffalo,” Bednar said. “It's nine games ago, and then the injury, coming off that he doesn't spend a bunch of time on the ice. At the same time, we got [MacKenzie] Blackwood, who's played now eight of nine, and he needs a break too. So there's no easy game to sort of choose, because it's [Minnesota] and it's Winnipeg. It's all divisional opponents.

“So we just felt like for the timing for Blackwood and for Wedgewood, now that it's been [16] days or so since he's played, he's got to go in, and he got the job done.”

Jason Robertson had two goals and an assist, and Wyatt Johnston had three assists for the Stars (28-16-1), who have lost three of four. Matt Duchene had a goal and an assist, and Casey DeSmith made 30 saves.

"We've played these guys,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “We beat them in the playoffs (in the Western Conference Second Round) last year. We’ve played them a lot over the last two years. So anytime you play them, you want to give your best game. I'm not sure we learned anything tonight. We know how dangerous they are and they burnt us.

“They just made us pay for any of the mistakes we made.”

Duchene gave Dallas a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 3:24 of the first period. He scored with a wrist shot from just below the right face-off circle that went over the shoulder of Wedgewood.

“They're a skilled, fast team. We know that. We're very familiar with it,” Robertson said. "I think we could have done a better job weathering instead of taking on so much water. It's only a matter of time, if you can't get enough pushback, that they're going to break through.”

Mittelstadt tied it 1-1 at 13:07 from the low slot, scoring past a scrambling DeSmith into an open net after Lehkonen’s centering pass was tipped off his stick by Johnston.

“'Drou' and 'Mitty' are very skillful guys,” Lehkonen said. “If they get time and space in the O-zone, usually something good happens. It's great. [Mittelstadt] got us really going and got our first goal and really set the tone after that. I thought he played an unreal game today.”

Makar scored a power-play goal to make it 2-1 at 10:31 of the second period. His wrist shot from the point got through traffic and a Lehkonen screen in front.

“Of course, [he] impresses anyone,” Lehkonen said. “He makes it look effortless sometimes.”

Lehkonen extended the lead to 3-1 at 11:56. He took Drouin’s pass across the neutral zone, skated into the right circle and beat DeSmith to the far side.

Matej Blumel appeared to cut it to 3-2 at 17:10, but the goal was overturned when Colorado successfully challenged for offside.

Drouin then made it 4-1 at 18:32 with a wrist shot from the high slot. It was his 100th goal in his 578th NHL game.

“I kind of forgot. I was at 99 for a bit now,” said Drouin, who had last scored Jan. 2. “But it's nice to get that 100th. It's always cool to get any milestone in the NHL. It's a hard league to play in, and you cherish those moments.”

Lehkonen pushed it to 5-1 at 8:13 of the third period, scoring off a backdoor pass from Mittelstadt.

Robertson cut it to 5-2 at 11:08 with a shot from behind the Avalanche net that banked off Wedgewood. Robertson then scored again 39 seconds later on the power play to make it 5-3 when his sharp-angled shot went in off Wedgewood at the right post.

Makar one-timed a rebound in the right circle at 13:13 for the 6-3 final.

NOTES: Lehkonen tied his NHL career high for points in a game. … It was Makar’s 12th career multigoal game. Since his NHL debut in 2019-20, the only defenseman with as many is Roman Josi (13 games). … Colorado forward Ross Colton played his 300th NHL game. He had one shot on goal in 16:17 of ice time. … Robertson’s goals were the two fastest by a Stars player since Joe Pavelski scored twice in 19 seconds on Nov. 26, 2021, also against the Avalanche.