Martin Necas had two goals, Mackenzie Blackwood bounced back from a difficult outing to make 24 saves, and the visiting Colorado Avalanche beat the Dallas Stars 3-2 in the first game of home-and-home on Tuesday night.
Artturi Lehkonen also scored and Nathan MacKinnon had two assists and also fought for the second time in the first six games for Colorado.
The teams play again Wednesday night in Denver.
The Avalanche were without All-Star defenseman Cale Makar and forward Zachary L’Heureux. Makar stayed in Colorado to be with his wife, who was expecting twins, while L’Heureux was a late scratch due to an upper-body injury.
Dallas played without center Wyatt Johnston, who was also a late scratch with an illness. Johnston had played the full 82-game regular-season schedule each of his first four NHL seasons as well as the Stars’ first five games this season.
The Stars’ Tyler Seguin had a goal and an assist and Roope Hintz also scored to go along with his fight with MacKinnon in the second period. The scuffle opened a cut on the bridge of MacKinnon’s nose, and he went to the locker room for nearly eight minutes before returning.
Miro Heiskanen had two assists and Jake Oettinger turned away 22 shots for Dallas.
The Avalanche took the lead midway through the first period when Josh Manson’s shot from the point hit MacKinnon’s skate, back to Lehkonen, who knocked it past Oettinger at 11:32. Seguin tied it on the power play in the final minute of the first with his second goal in as many games.
Colorado answered in the second period. Necas gave the Avalanche the lead when he took a backhand pass from MacKinnon and beat Oettinger with a one-timer at 3:05. Necas made it 3-1 when he scored on a 5-on-3 at 16:14.
Blackwood, who allowed five goals on 22 shots in a 6-3 home loss to Toronto on Saturday, kept it a two-goal advantage heading into the second intermission when he stoned Sam Steel on a point-blank shot after a turnover by Colorado defenseman Sam Malinski.
Hintz got the Stars within a goal when he scored 3:17 into the third. Oettinger came off for an extra skater with 1:49 left but Dallas couldn’t score.