Marchment gets 3 points, Stars hold off Avalanche

Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist, Cale Makar had two assists and Valeri Nichushkin and Artturi Lehkonen each scored a goal for Colorado (13-11-0), which has won four of its last five games. Alexandar Georgiev made 19 saves.

Lehkonen cut the Stars’ three-goal lead to 4-2 at 1:02 of the third period with a shot from the bottom of the left faceoff circle that beat Oettinger by five. Rantanen made it 4-3 at 8:03 with a shot from the right faceoff dot after a cross-ice pass from Makar, who weaved through the zone before releasing the puck to Rantanen’s stick.

“The game between Makar and Rantanen is incredible,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “We have five guys, all in the right spots, and they are still playing well. That’s the danger of this team, you can’t let up for a second. Even if you are in the right spots, they will still make plays through you. We did as good a job as you can do against this group. They’re so elite that they’re going to make some of these plays.”

Seguin gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 5:36 of the first period when he scored from the goal line on the power play after a cross-ice pass from Duchene.

“We just have to find a way to improve (the penalty kill). “I don’t know exactly what’s going on right now,” Makar said. “We have to find a way to make a difference on the power play and the penalty kill and win the special teams battle.”

Nichushkin tied the game at 1-1 at 13:56 after the puck squirted behind Oettinger and he capitalized by scoring a power play goal.

Marchment made it 2-1 for Dallas at 14:28 when he redirected the puck after it bounced off Georgiev’s skate in the crease.

“We gave up a few strange attacks and knew they would put the puck on ice quickly,” Makar said. “I felt like the legs were there for the most part, just that sometimes we need to be sharper and not let the balls go into the back of the net.”

Benn made it 3-1 with a rebound from the slot at 7:07 of the second period.

“They like to send a few guys out there and they can score. They are the hottest team in the league in terms of scoring goals in the last 10 of the year. They’re a dangerous offense,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “We didn’t handle the onslaught very well at times in the first and at times in the second. That improved somewhat as the game went on, but if you give them too many quality chances on the rush, they will capitalize.”