Benn scores twice as Avalanche edges Stars
DENVER -- Jamie Benn wouldn't mind seeing the Colorado Avalanche more than a couple of times a season.
The Dallas left winger continued his success against the Avalanche, scoring two goals and assisting on a third, and the Stars beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 Monday night.
Kari Lehtonen made 29 saves, and Brenden Morrow also had a goal for the Stars (4-5-1), who won for just the second time in their past seven games.
Benn led the way, registering another solid game against Dallas' one-time heated rival. In 13 games against the Avalanche, he has four goals and seven assists.
His two goals Monday came at a good time for the Stars, who were averaging 1.8 goals in their first nine games.
"We were struggling a little bit coming in here, and we wanted to keep the game simple," Benn said. "We got two big points tonight."
The majority of game was played with one referee after Chris Rooney was hurt 3:12 into the first period. A shot by Dallas' Jamie Oleksiak deflected off the leg of Colorado's Paul Stastny and hit Rooney in the head. Rooney was on the ice for several minutes before getting up and being helped off.
Avalanche officials had no update on his status following the game.
Justin St. Pierre officiated the last 56:48 on his own.
"I thought he was fine. There's only one guy, there's a lot of action going on out there, things happen awfully quick out there," Colorado coach Joe Sacco said. "We had our fair share of power plays, they had some at the end. We took some bad penalties at the end, and they were rightfully called."
Milan Hejduk and P.A. Parenteau scored for the Avalanche (4-5-0). It was Colorado's first home loss in four games.
"We were playing pretty good, getting some opportunities on the power play and making things happen out there," said Parenteau, who scored his team-leading seventh goal. "They stuck with it. You've got to give them credit, they scored a big goal at the end."
The Stars led 2-0 on goals by Benn and Morrow, the first of the season for both. Dallas was poised for more when it got a two-minute, 5-on-3 power play late in the first period. The Stars kept the puck in the offensive zone the entire two minutes but couldn't get any of their five shots past Semyon Varlamov.
Varlamov finished with 23 saves.
Colorado, energized by the penalty kill, cut the lead in half when Hejduk knocked in a rebound with 1:48 left in the opening period.
It was his first goal of the season, and it came in his 1,000th career game -- all as an Avalanche.
"It's a big accomplishment," he said. "It's kind of a little sour taste, but it's still good to get 1,000 games."
Parenteau tied it with a power-play goal midway through the second. Benn notched his second of the game when he scored on a delayed penalty against Colorado late in the period.
"I found a good spot out there and (Aaron Rome) and (Derek Roy) made a good play. Just tried to get a pretty good shot, and it went in," Benn said.
Colorado pulled Varlamov for an extra attacker with 49 seconds left but couldn't get a shot on goal.
Lehtonen faced 24 shots through the first two periods but only seven in the third.
"When it was time for them to really come back, they took those two penalties and lost four minutes of good time," he said. "I was expecting a lot more action in the third."
NOTES: Before the game, the Avalanche honored Hejduk for reaching the 1,000-game milestone. He is the first player to play all of his 1,000 games for the Avalanche. Joe Sakic holds the franchise record with 1,378 games, but 508 of those were as a member of the Quebec Nordiques. Hejduk is the 30th player to play 1,000 games exclusively with one team, one of nine active players to accomplish the feat. ... Avalanche defenseman Ryan Wilson was scratched with an ankle injury suffered in Saturday's game. Gabriel Landeskog (head, leg) and David Jones (knee) were also out. ... Dallas forward Jaromir Jagr has more career points against Colorado (44) than against any other Western Conference team. He had one assist Monday and finished plus-2. ... Colorado has killed off all 20 of its penalties on home ice this season.
