Eurolanche

Stars start homestand by thumping Avs

The Dallas Stars wanted a great start to their season-long five-game homestand and that's what they got with a resounding 5-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche before 17,311 at American Airlines Center.

Dallas, now 7-6-2 at home, got goals from Derek Roy, Jordie Benn, Eric Nystrom, Cody Eakin and Jaromir Jagr. Jamie Benn had three assists in his second three-point game of the season while Jagr, Nystrom and Roy each contributed a goal and an assist for the Stars. Kari Lehtonen stopped 33 shots to avenge a 4-3 loss at Denver earlier on Wednesday.

Colorado, now 2-10-3 on the road, got goals from P.A. Parenteau and Paul Stastny. The Avalanche last won away from home on Feb. 14, beating the Minnesota Wild 4-3 in a shootout. Colorado was without its captain, Gabriel Landeskog, who was a late scratch with a torso injury.

Roy gave the Stars the great start they sorely needed on home ice, beating Semyon Varlamov top shelf with a wrist shot just 34 seconds into the game. Roy intercepted a pass by Colorado's David Jones in front of the Dallas net, fed Loui Eriksson and took a return pass before beating Varlamov from the edge of the left circle for his fourth goal of the .

The Stars made it 2-0 at 9:57 when Jordie Benn scored his first NHL goal. With Dallas on the power play, Benn backhanded the rebound of Roy's shot from the left side past Varlamov. The Stars came into the game in a 1-for-22 slump with the extra man.

Roy had the leave the ice at 15:36 of the opening period after taking a shot from Colorado's John Mitchell in his leg. However, he returned to the ice to begin the second period.

Parenteau beat Lehtonen with a long blast from the left side at 16:52, but the goal was waved off because Jones was ruled to have interfered with Lehtonen, falling into the Stars netminder and preventing him from using his stick.

Dallas blew the game open with a pair of goals early in the second period.

Nystrom tapped in a rebound 58 seconds in after Varlamov stopped Jamie Benn's initial shot. Jagr picked up the secondary assist, giving him 999 helpers for his career. Eakin ended Varlamov's night at 4:37 when he fired a 15-foot wrister from the slot into the net for his fifth of the season.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere relieved Varlamov, and the Avalanche picked up their play. They cut the margin to 4-1 with 54 seconds left in the season when Parenteau buried a slap shot for a power-play goal, ending Lehtonen's scoreless streak at 102:35.

Colorado made it 4-2 at 1:37 of the third period when Stastny beat Lehtonen to the short side with a wrister from the left circle. John Mitchell gained possession of the puck near center ice and fed Stastny, who rushed up the left side before burying his eighth of the season on Lehtonen's stick side.

But Jagr put the game away at 6:44, scoring on a wraparound from the far side of the net that deflected off the skate of Avalanche defenseman Stefan Elliott and through the five-hole of Giguere for his team-leading 13th goal of the season. Jagr had collected the puck from behind the net after Jamie Benn had sent the puck around the boards, then skated around the Colorado net almost untouched.

Tempers flared with 1:24 remaining, as Colorado's Cody McLeod was guilty of roughing Aaron Dillon, which led to a confrontation between the Dallas rookie defenseman and Shane O'Brien. Both Dillon and O'Brien left the ice as McLeod and O'Brien each received 10-minute misconduct penalties.

-- by Steve Hunt for NHL.com --