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DALLAS — The Dallas Stars built another multigoal lead against high-scoring Colorado. This time, they held on to win and avoid another 2-0 hole in the NHL playoffs.

“Found a way to win the game, and that’s the most important thing,” Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen said.

Heiskanen scored two power-play goals, Roope Hintz had a goal and three assists and the Stars beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-3 in Game 2 on Thursday night to even the second-round Western Conference series.

Tyler Seguin got his first goal this postseason on a short-hander at the end of a 3-on-1 breakaway for the Stars that put them up 4-0 late in the second period. Esa Lindell added an empty-netter with 20 seconds left, with Hintz getting his final assist.

Jake Oettinger had 28 saves against a Colorado team that led the NHL in scoring during the regular season and had averaged an NHL-high 5.33 goals in its first six games this postseason.

Joel Kiviranta, Brandon Duhaime and Valeri Nichushkin scored in the third period for the Avalanche, but they failed to score on a power play in the final three minutes that was partly a 6-on-4 after goalie Alexandar Georgiev skated to the bench.

“Obviously, I think we can handle those situations better. But I think that the silver lining is that we built 3-0 and 4-0 leads, so we’ve played some very good hockey for long stretches against them,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “I thought tonight was better than Game 1. We did most of the things that we wanted to do tonight. Building that lead, the right guys scored, got on the board for us.”

Game 3 is Saturday night in Denver.

Colorado had also trailed 3-0 in the first period of Game 1 two nights earlier before coming back to win 4-3 in overtime, and extend its postseason winning streak to five games. That was the third time this season the Avs had come back from a multigoal deficit to win in Dallas.

They came up short this time in a game when hurt by some self-induced penalties and going 0 for 3 on power plays. Of their six penalties, two were for delay of game wo for delay of game after knocking pucks into the stands, and two more for having too many men on the ice.

“The second period for me is when it fell apart. Just not sharp,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “Then we turn around in the third and go to work, and that’s what happens.”

Hintz, whose only previous point this postseason had been an empty-net goal in Game 4 of the opening series against Vegas, put Dallas up 2-0 less than two minutes into the second period. That came after the Avalanche had failed to score on a power play that carried over from the end of the first period, when Oettinger had a couple of impressive saves in the closing seconds.

It also was soon after Miles Wood, who scored in overtime for Colorado in Game 1, had a shot blocked by Oettinger and the Stars took the puck the other way. Hintz was to the left of Alexander Georgiev when he got a cross-ice pass from Nils Lundkvist.

Georgiev stopped 26 shots.

Dallas, which in the first round against Vegas lost the first two games at home before winning the series in Game 7, led 3-0 with four minutes left in the second period Thursday when captain Jamie Benn and Hintz had assists as Heiskanen scored on a shot that went off the stick of former Stars center Andrew Cogliano.

Benn had been called for a major penalty a few minutes before that for a big hit that leveled defenseman Devon Toews behind the Colorado net. But officials reviewed the play and didn’t call any penalty after replay showed a shoulder-to-shoulder hit. Toews left the game briefly, but returned before the end of the second period.

“It’s a physical game, it’s a physical player. … I don’t want to say. I mean, does he catch a piece of his shoulder? Yeah. I guess you could argue that,. but he target is high and it’s at his head, and it makes contact with the head,” Bednar said. “I’ve seen many times guys get called for the head shot penalty with a lot less than that, but I guess they didn’t think so. And this time of the year you’ve got to play through some of that stuff.”

Hintz was serving a holding penalty when Seguin got his first short-hander in his 123rd playoff game to make it 4-0.

League MVP finalist Nathan MacKinnon had the first delay of game penalty against Colorado, knocking the puck out of his own zone. Dallas capitalized, going up 1-0 after a circle-to-circle pass from Hintz to Heiskanen with 5:14 left in the first period.

The Avalanche were about midway through their first power play in the closing seconds of the first period when Oettinger made two saves in quick succession, knocking away Artturi Lehkonen’s shot and then making a glove save when Nichushkin took a backhanded swat at that rebound.

Nichushkin has nine goals this postseason, with goals in all seven games for the Avalanche.

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Maple Leafs vs. Panthers (May 11, 2025) Live Score – ESPN

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Maple Leafs vs. Panthers (May 11, 2025) Live Score - ESPN

— Mikko Rantanen had a goal and two assists, including on the tiebreaking goal by Alexander Petrovic that was finally confirmed after a lengthy review as the Dallas Stars beat the Winnipeg Jets 5-2 on Sunday to take 2-1 lead in the second-round…

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Day after 21-0 loss, Rockies fire manager Black

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Day after 21-0 loss, Rockies fire manager Black

DENVER — The Colorado Rockies fired manager Bud Black on Sunday, one day after losing by 21 runs to the San Diego Padres at Coors Field.

The Rockies are off to a major-league-worst 7-33 start even after defeating the Padres 9-3 on Sunday to salvage one game in the home series and snap an eight-game skid. Third-base coach Warren Schaeffer will serve as interim manager for the rest of the season, and hitting coach Clint Hurdle will be the interim bench coach.

The Rockies, who also fired bench coach Mike Redmond, will open a road trip Monday night against the Texas Rangers and try to turn a corner. Even with Sunday’s victory, Colorado has the worst 40-game start since the 1988 Baltimore Orioles, who were 6-34.

“Our play so far this season, especially coming off the last two seasons, has been unacceptable. Our fans deserve better, and we are capable of better,” Rockies owner, chairman and CEO Dick Monfort said in a statement. “While we all share responsibility in how this season has played out, these changes are necessary. We will use the remainder of 2025 to improve where we can on the field and to evaluate all areas of our operation so we can properly turn the page into the next chapter of Rockies Baseball.”

Black was in his ninth year as Rockies manager and had a career record with Colorado of 544-690. He is the winningest manager in franchise history.

Before Saturday night’s 21-0 drubbing, Rockies general manager Bill Schmidt backed Black, telling The Denver Post that he believed the season still could be turned around.

“I think our guys are still playing hard, and that’s what I look at,” Schmidt told the Post. “Guys are working hard every day; they come with energy, for the most part. I don’t think we are [at that point of firing Black]. Guys still believe in what we are doing and where we are headed. We are all frustrated.”

Schmidt said he was looking for “growth” as the season goes along.

“I feel for the fans; I feel for the people around here,” he said. “I know we are better than we have played, but we are not good right now. We have to battle through it and get to the other side. There are still a lot of games left. I think we can turn it around, but it’s going to take a whole group to do it. The guys are working to get better.”

Colorado was 19½ games out of first place in the NL West before Sunday’s win. The Rockies have been outscored by 128 runs this season. The only team since 1900 with a worse run differential through 40 games was the 2023 Oakland Athletics (-144).

The seventh manager in team history, Black initially found success with Colorado when he led the Rockies to back-to-back playoff appearances in 2017 and 2018. They haven’t finished with a winning record since and are coming off two straight 100-loss seasons. Colorado has a .353 winning percentage since 2023.

Black’s contract was set to expire after the season. He signed a one-year extension in October.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Follow live: Jets, Stars battle in Game 3 as series shifts to Dallas

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