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McLeod, Avalanche end Stars' winning streak

Feb 6, 2009 - 5:47 AM DENVER (Ticker) -- Cody McLeod proved to the Dallas Stars that all good things must come to an end.

McLeod snapped a tie midway through the third period and Peter Budaj made 22 saves Thursday as the Colorado Avalanche halted the Stars' five-game winning streak with a 3-2 victory.

All-Star Milan Hejduk recorded a goal and an assist and Marek Svatos also scored for the Avalanche, who have won back-to-back contests following a four-game skid.

Steve Ott and Loui Eriksson scored, defenseman Matt Niskanen notched two assists and Marty Turco turned aside 18 shots for the Stars, who had outscored their opponents by a combined margin of 20-7 during their winning streak.

"Our execution was poor and our feet weren't moving to help the execution out," Dallas coach Dave Tippett said. "We gave up three preventable goals that were breakdowns on our end, and we couldn't get enough to overcome the mistakes."

McLeod snapped a 2-2 tie with 7:11 left in the third period with his 12th goal of the season. He received a pass from Tyler Arnason behind the net, skated to the left of Turco and banked an off-angle wrist shot off the goaltender's right skate and in.

"I go to the net hard, and I think anyone can score if they go to the net hard," McLeod said. "I get dirty around the net and get rebounds, and sometimes I get a little bit of luck around there, too."

"Well, he came around the net and I put my stick down, and it went under my stick and off my foot and into the net," Turco explained.

Budaj sealed the win with a pair of key stops in the final minute after Dallas had pulled Turco for an extra attacker.

"We came out strong, Marty made some big saves at the beginning and we just kept going," Budaj said. "I think this was one of our better games defensively. Guys didn't allow much and our penalty kill was great."

Ott opened the scoring with 40 seconds remaining in the first, deflecting Niskanen's shot from the high slot past Budaj.

Hejduk answered with 6:49 left in the middle session, collecting the puck in the corner before moving to the front of the net and beating Turco high with a wrist shot for his 20th goal of the campaign.

"It was kind of a semi 2-on-1 with Wolski," Hejduk said. "The D gave me a little bit more room there than I expected. I tried to bring it in, and sometimes Turco kind of tries to read the plays and play the pass sometimes. I kind of tried to hold it for a second and he opened up the short side, and I went high there."

It is the ninth consecutive season in which Hejduk has reached the 20-goal mark.

Svatos gave Colorado a 2-1 advantage 42 seconds into the third after Wojtek Wolski fanned on his attempt from the slot. With Dallas defenders converging on the puck, Wolski poked it ahead to Svatos, who fired a wrist shot between Turco's pads from the edge of the crease.

"I'm getting more and more opportunities," Svatos said. "I got some ice time on the power play, and like I said, we got that going. It's nice to finally get those bounces and get the goals."

Eriksson evened the contest at 2-2 with his team-leading 25th goal of the campaign at 8:02 of the final session.

Despite the fact the Stars battled back to knot the game, Ott was discouraged with his team's performance.

"All three periods, all the lines just seemed like we were completely flat-footed for most of the game," Ott said. "The stuff that we've been preaching and been successful with the last five games completely went out the window."