Miles Wood’s overtime goal 11:03 into the extra period capped a rally from a three-goal deficit to give the Colorado Avalanche a 4-3 win over the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night at American Airlines Center in Dallas.
The Avalanche take a 1-0 lead in the Western Conference second-round playoff series. Game 2 is Thursday in Dallas at 9:30 p.m. ET.
Wood beat Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen to the puck for a breakaway and slid a shot past Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger, who made 22 saves.
Colorado trailed 3-0 after the first period.
A factor in the Stars’ collapse could have been that their seven-game first-round series win over the Vegas Golden Knights just ended on Sunday night. The Avalanche had a week to rest after eliminating the Winnipeg Jets in five games.
Defenseman Cale Makar had a goal and two assists, and Valeri Nichushkin and Nathan MacKinnon each contributed a goal and an assist for Colorado. Alexandar Georgiev stopped 19 shots.
MacKinnon tied it 3-3 for the Avalanche 39 seconds into the third period when he buried a rebound. MacKinnon was named a finalist for the Hart Trophy, the regular-season MVP, earlier in the day.
The Avalanche pulled to within 3-2 in the second period with two power-play goals.
Nichushkin, a former Dallas Star, scored his eighth goal of playoffs 5:31 into the middle period. It was his seventh consecutive playoff game with a goal, dating back to last season.
Makar brought Colorado to within one 9:08 into the second. He beat Oettinger with a wrist shot from the high slot area.
Stars defenseman Ryan Suter opened the scoring 7:26 into the game when his wrist shot from the left point found the net. Wyatt Johnston’s fifth goal of the playoffs, 3:29 later, made it 2-0. He scored right off a face-off from the top of the left circle. Captain Jamie Benn’s 5-on-3 power-play goal with 3:04 left in the opening period made it 3-0. He tipped in a shot by Jason Robertson.