Preseason Recap: Stars sneak out of Ball Arena with last-second win

Something about the Dallas Stars and tough losses.

It still may be preseason, but losses to the Dallas Stars still sting.

The Colorado Avalanche fell 3-2 to these Stars in a last-second gasp from the blue line, with 0.2 seconds to go. Dramatically just as they did in May, Dallas managed to sneak off with the win back to their own barn.

What a way to welcome back hockey for the 2024-25 season eh? There’s still plenty of time for the Avs to get it all together, especially after game one of six this preseason. Here’s how it unfolded.

First Period

Colorado and Dallas came out and made it look as though their playoff series never ended, just with 99% less intensity. Matthew Phillips had the Avs’ best chance in front but was denied by Magnus Hellberg in net for the Stars. He was matched by Justus Annunen and Erik Brannstrom with a nice goal-line save.

The Avs found themselves in penalty trouble, and it would hurt them. Nikita Prishchepov went off for slashing, and then Joel Kiviranta joined him just 41 seconds later with a cross-checking call. Wyatt Johnston would continue his scoring against the Avalanche, finishing off a rebound from a Nils Lundkvist shot.

Their lead wouldn’t last long though, despite Hellberg robbing TJ Tynan on a 2-on-1 with Pierre-Eduoard Bellemare. Tynan got the puck from Prishchepov, who redeemed himself with a forced turnover and one-touched it to Phillips for the equalizer heading into the intermission.

Second Period

Some chippiness came from Lian Bichsel to start the period, who jumped Matthew Stienburg moments after he was denied on a breakaway, punching him while he was down. Both would end up going to the box for roughing – a sign to come for the remainder of the frame.

Nikolai Kovalenko won a puck battle along the boards and drew a holding penalty in doing so. The first Avalanche power play would lead to a goal, thanks to Cal Ritchie dishing a beautiful shot-pass in front to Jayson Megna, who was thought to have tipped it home for the lead. The goal would later be credited to Ritchie as it went off a Stars

With Trent Miner now in net for the second half of the game, he would be busy with a few shots. But, the officials would be busier calling eight penalties total in the period, leading to a 4-on-3 power play to wrap up the middle 20 minutes. But the Avs still held a 2-1 lead heading into the final period.

Third Period

Three straight high-sticking calls were made against the Avs, totaling up to eight total in the game for them. Calle Rosen, Keaton Middleton, and Oskar Olausson were the three to be called for them.

Luckily for Colorado, Dallas didn’t convert on any of them. They did manage to take advantage of a miscue from Middleton, finished off by Arttu Hyry in front to even the score at two.

Jason Polin then took a hooking call, which was luckily killed off. The Avs just managed to get away with it as for the second straight game against the Stars (technically), we headed to overtime – or so they thought.

Bichsel let one go from the point right as the horn sounded which snuck past Miner. After a quick review, the goal stood and with just 0.2 seconds left on the clock, the Stars would escape with a 3-2 win.

Takeaways

In the grand scheme of things, this game won’t mean much. But man, another heartbreaking loss against the Stars – while this one is certainly under very different circumstances. Luckily, we can still focus on Ritchie’s good game with the Avs’s second goal of the game. He wasn’t as dominant as he was at development camp and the rookie tournament, but was solid on a line with Olausson and Foudy. Sean Behrens was decent on the blue line with nothing too crazy to write home about, while Annunen was great between the pipes, only allowing the one goal on a 5-on-3 with a bouncing rebound.

Outside of the big names, it was fun to watch Prishchepov in this game, who definitely was a little shaken at first – but rebounded well with an assist. It was a well-worked goal, with the board battle win behind the net, quickly dumping it off and leading to a goal. He has been quietly good all summer long at development camp in July and the rookie tournament earlier this month. He played well with Tynan and Phillips, and the latter of the two will at least be in the AHL with the Colorado Eagles and could make for a good pairing. PEB was also an interesting watch, as he kept falling over in the first period as if something was wrong with his skates. But the PTO forward went by the rest of the game without much notice, a good thing for a guy vouching for the fourth-line center role.

If there’s one thing Jared Bednar and his coaching staff will take from this game, it’ll be to clean up their game. Colorado managed to take nine penalties, four alone in the third period. Playing with a slim 2-1 lead, it gave all the momentum to Dallas up until the very last second to score the winner. This was far from what the team will look like for Opening Night in a few weeks in Las Vegas, but the Eagles, Utah Grizzlies, and other teams will be taking notice of some of the sloppiness which needs to be dealt with.

Upcoming

For the eighth game in a row, the Avs will be facing these same Stars – this time down in Dallas on Friday night. Puck drop is at 6:00 p.m. MT.