Colorado beat the Dallas Stars 3-2 on Tuesday night, and the game turned on Martin Necas as much as it did on Nathan MacKinnon’s fight with Roope Hintz. Necas scored twice, MacKinnon added two assists, and Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 24 shots as the Avalanche took the latest round of a matchup that got far rougher than this rivalry usually does.
The searched-for name is MacKinnon, and the reason is simple: he left with a bloodied face after dropping the gloves with Hintz in the second period, his second fight of the season. Earlier, Fedor Svechkov fought Radek Faksa late in the first period after Faksa landed a heavy open-ice hit on Jaden Schwartz, setting a tone that never really settled down. This was not a clean, controlled night. It was a game with heavy collisions, two fights and enough edge to make the final score feel almost secondary.
Colorado still found a way through it. Artturi Lehkonen opened the scoring at 11:32 of the first period, Tyler Seguin tied it at 19:06, and Necas later supplied the finishing touch. The Avalanche also had to manage their bench in ways that mattered. Zachary L’Heureux was a late scratch, and because there was no replacement available, Colorado dressed 11 forwards and six defensemen. At one point, that shortage left the club with only nine forwards available while Josh Manson was serving Svechkov’s two-minute penalty and MacKinnon was out after the fight while repairs were made to his face.
The absences around them made the night even stranger. Cale Makar did not make the trip because he was with his wife as she went into labor, and Logan O’Connor was away after his father died last week. Wyatt Johnston was also a late scratch for Dallas because of illness. Those holes help explain why the game could swing between sharp hockey and outright mayhem without much warning.
That is the part that matters heading into Wednesday night in Denver. Jared Bednar called it the most physical game his group has played this time of year and said he was pleased with the final 40 minutes, but the bigger question is whether MacKinnon’s bloody night leads to anything beyond soreness and a story the Avalanche will not soon forget. For one game, Colorado got the win, Necas got the goals and MacKinnon absorbed the punishment that came with a rivalry that is still capable of surprising both sides.
