Avalanche Roll Over Stars

A road win for the Colorado Avalanche over Dallas is always nice. To do it with a starless lineup is even better.

Adam Deadmarsh's rebound goal 34 seconds into overtime gave the Avalanche a 3-2 victory over the Stars at Reunion Arena, leaving Dallas winless in its last five games.

Injured and out for the Avalanche were centers Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg and defensemen Adam Foote, Alexei Gusarov and Aaron Miller.

Deadmarsh won a faceoff from Dallas' top center Mike Modano, and skated hard to the net. Rookie Martin Skoula, who scored a second-period goal, took the first shot, which was stopped by goalie Ed Belfour. But Deadmarsh put in the rebound for his sixth goal of the season.

"Skoula did an excellent job getting the puck to the net and the rebound was perfect for me because I'm a right-handed shot," Deadmarsh said. "The last few games, we fought hard but didn't get any points. Tonight we got the two points we deserved."

Avalanche coach Bob Hartley was especially pleased for his younger players, who've been struggling to replace the injured Colorado veterans.

"This is a good confidence booster," Hartley said. "I'm especially proud of the wy the younger guys worked."

Rookie Brenden Morrow scored his first NHL goal in the second period to give the Stars a 2-1 lead.

But the Avalanche tied it at 2 with 10:30 left in regulation on Stephane Yelle's fourth goal, a sharp-angled slap shot from the bottom of the right circle that eluded Ed Belfour.

Dallas is 0-3-2 over the last five games and has scored only seven goals in that span. The Stars (8-10-3) lost their 10th game last season on Feb. 7 en route to winning the Stanley Cup.

Colorado, eliminated by Dallas in seven games in the Western Conference finals last season, was 1-3-1 in its previous five games.

Modano's mistakes paved the way for the Colorado victory. Dallas' top center lost the faceoff on the game-winner, made a bad clearing pass that led to Skoula's power play goal, and was also on the ice when Yelle scored.

"Anything that could have gone wrong did when I was on the ice," Modano said. "It seemed every mistake I made ended up in the net. It was a frustrating night."

The Stars took a 1-0 lead 38 seconds after the opening faceoff on a fluke goal, with defenseman Derian Hatcher getting credit for his first of the season. The puck was sitting on the pads of Avalanche goalie Patrick Roy, and Roy accidentally knocked it in himself, with Hatcher the nearest Dallas player.

Dallas scored first for only the second time in its last 12 games.

Colorado got the tying goal at 6:24 of the second period on Skoula's first, a wrist shot from the high slot on an Avalanche power play.

Morrow, playing his third NHL game, gave Dallas a 2-1 advantage 35 seconds later, knocking a rebound past Roy.

Before the game, the Stars activated defenseman Richard Matvichuk and center Brian Skrudland from the injured list. To make room for the two players, Dallas put center Roman Lyashenko and defenseman Alan Letang on the injured list.

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