Eurolanche

Avs Seek Bounce-Back Effort vs. Stars

Season series: The Colorado Avalanche went 5-0-0 against the Dallas Stars last season. Forwards Gabriel Landeskog and Matt Duchene and defenseman Tyson Barrie each had seven points. Semyon Varlamov was 4-0-0 with a .925 save percentage. Forward Cody Eakin had three goals for the Stars.

Stars team scope: Dallas shut out the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-0 on Thursday, but coach Lindy Ruff didn't say whether Antti Niemi, who stopped 37 shots in his Stars debut, or Kari Lehtonen would be in goal.

"I think that's something as a staff that we'll talk about," Ruff told the Stars website. "I think there's situations that will come along this year where you might decide you want more size, you might decide you want some fresh bodies."

The Stars missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season partly because of their inability to get points against the Avalanche. "We had a hard time with Colorado; we had a hard time with Minnesota [last season]," center Jason Spezza told the website. "Those are the games we have to win. Those are the teams we are going to be fighting with for playoff spots. We know we have to be better in those games. It starts [Saturday] for us, try to get a good road win."

Avalanche team scope: Despite allowing four goals in the third period during a 5-4 season-opening loss to the Minnesota Wild on Thursday, Colorado will dress the same 20 players against the Stars. That includes Varlamov, who was absolved of blame for the loss by coach Patrick Roy on Friday. "It's an opportunity for a goalie to close the door. Yes. But we need to help him," Roy told Mike Chambers of the Denver Post after practice. "We didn't help him in that third period. If you look at the goals that they scored, they were not easy saves. We need to be better, limit the turnovers in the neutral zone and not allow them to get in the slot area."

-- by NHL.com --