DENVER _ A January message could have reverberated into April on Tuesday night.
With a win over the Avalanche on Tuesday night, the Stars would have swept Colorado in the four-game season series (plus two preseason games), a run that would be more than a footnote should Dallas meet Colorado in the playoffs.
A 3-2 Stars overtime win made sure the message was received, and gave the crowd a peek at what a potential playoff series would look like.
It would be speedy and heavy, a clash of Colorado's lethal offense and Dallas' shutdown defense and goaltending. It would be hard-hitting and combative, as evidenced by Jamie Benn's feud with Matt Calvert and Cale Makar's flattening of Jason Dickinson. It would be fun in a division that is slowly growing with Stars rivals after last year's postseason run though Nashville and St. Louis.
Esa Lindell won the game for Dallas with 3:06 left in overtime.
Dickinson tied the game at 2 with 5:23 left in the third period, erasing a 2-0 Colorado lead built in a dominant first period. Ben Bishop kept the Stars in the game with a flurry of denials, ultimately finishing with 41 saves as Dallas ended a four-game road trip 3-1-0.
Denis Gurianov also scored for the Stars on a second-period power play, his first power play goal of the season. Nikita Zadorov and Gabriel Landeskog scored for the Avalanche.
"It's our last kick at them," Stars interim head coach Rick Bowness said before the game. "We don't play them again in the regular season. We've taken five of the six points and that's really the only reason we're ahead of them in the standings. This is a very, very important game. We talked about it yesterday. For them, it's a statement game, really. We beat them three times, even though one of them was in a shootout."
The Stars and Avalanche are currently lined up to play each other in the first round of the playoffs. While January is wholly premature to book a playoff series for any two teams, this year's Central Division could set up Dallas and Colorado. St. Louis entered the day 11 points up on Dallas for first place, and Winnipeg (three points) and Nashville (six) trailed Colorado for third place.
The matchup is salivating should it come to fruition. Benn, Tyler Seguin and Alexander Radulov against Landeskog, MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. Heiskanen against Makar. Roope Hintz and Gurianov against Nazem Kadri and Andre Burakovsky. Valeri Nichushkin against his former team.
And now, Benn against Calvert.
Benn got into his first fight of the season on Tuesday after a sequence against Calvert that began with an interference penalty on Benn. After Calvert drew the penalty, Benn cross checked him on the way to the penalty box. When his penalty expired, the two exchanged words at the next faceoff, Benn grabbed Calvert's jersey and Calvert dropped his gloves. Benn did not drop his.
The gloves were soon off. At the next faceoff, Benn immediately fought Calvert to earn a five-minute major for fighting. In the box, Benn was booed by the crowd and cupped his ear to listen.
