Avalanche lose to rival Stars in shootout as overturned goals, shorthanded goal against loom large

The Colorado Avalanche didn’t have much trouble putting pucks behind the goaltender Wednesday night, but scoring goals that counted was another matter.

Colorado had two goals disallowed against Casey DeSmith in a 3-2 shootout loss at Ball Arena. The Avs collected three points from this back-to-back set against the rival Stars.

Scott Wedgewood made his second start of the season and finished with 20 saves.

“I liked our response in the third period,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “Every time we play these guys, it’s a close game. It’s a hard-fought game.

“We came up a little bit short, but the overall effort from our guys two nights in a row was pretty solid.”

Dallas took the lead with back-to-back goals after Colorado seemed in control for much of the contest. Old friend Mikko Rantanen made a great play to set up Miro Heiskanen for a goal at 15:03 of the second period.

Arttu Hyry scored shorthanded on a breakaway just 80 seconds in the third to put Dallas ahead 2-1. It was the third shorthanded goal the Avs allowed in seven games to start the season, after yielding an NHL-worst 13 goals while on the man advantage last season.

Dating back to the start of last season, the Avs have allowed 16 shorthanded goals — four more than any other team in the league. They’ve also yielded just 39 goals while shorthanded, which is three fewer than anyone else.

Brock Nelson tied it up midway through the third. He pounced on a rebound from Artturi Lehkonen, who had been stuck out on the ice for a shift that lasted 1:49. It was Nelson’s third goal of the season.

It took three tries, but the Avs struck first.

Captain Gabe Landeskog redirected the puck at the edge of the crease after Nazem Kadri sent it in his direction from the left circle at 4:55 of the second period. The sequence started with Sam Malinski intercepting an outlet pass and keeping the puck in the offensive zone.

Colorado put the puck behind Dallas goaltender Casey DeSmith twice in the opening period, but both goals were disallowed after reviews. Jaden Schwartz finished a beautiful tic-tac-toe play in the opening two minutes with a deke and backhanded tuck past Smith, but the Stars challenged for offsides and were successful.

Landeskog had a goal taken away midway through the first. Schwartz took a shot just seconds after Stars captain Jamie Benn left the penalty box that went off DeSmith, off Landeskog and in the net. But a league-initiated review determined the Avs captain used a kicking motion to propel the puck across the line.

“It’s a little frustrating,” Bednar said. “First one is offsides just a hair, as close as I’ve seen. I don’t love (the second call). We can agree to disagree. I don’t know. (Landeskog) is skating on the second one and puts his foot down and it hits him. I don’t see a kicking motion there.”

The Avs also hit the iron behind DeSmith twice in short order in the third period. Gavin Brindley, recalled earlier in the day and making his season debut, whipped a wrist shot past the goalie that hit both posts but caromed out. A little more than a minute later, Kadri flipped one off the left post from in tight as well.

These two teams met Tuesday night in Dallas. Martin Necas scored twice, and Nathan MacKinnon fought for the second time this season in a 3-2 Colorado victory.

FOOTNOTES: Brindley played because Zachary L’Heureux (upper body) and Nicolas Roy (lower body) were both unavailable because of injury. L’Heureux missed Tuesday night as well.

Cale Makar returned to the lineup after missing the game in Dallas as well. His wife, Tracy, gave birth to twin boys, Mattie and Rhett, on Wednesday morning.

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