Martin Necas scores twice, Nathan MacKinnon fights again as Avalanche beat rival Stars

Corey Masisak, The Denver Post on Oct 13, 2026

Published in Hockey

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DALLAS — There is more blood involved in this rivalry now.

The Colorado Avalanche's Martin Necas scored twice, while Nathan MacKinnon had a pair of assists and bloodied face after his second fight of the season in a 3-2 win Tuesday night against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center. Mackenzie Blackwood made 24 saves in an impressive bounce-back performance.

MacKinnon dropped the gloves with Dallas center Roope Hintz in the second period. The Avs star was already sporting a scab on his nose from taking a stick up high in Winnipeg, but a Hintz punch appeared to connect with MacKinnon’s visor and the visor cut open his nose.

The last time Colorado was in this building, MacKinnon and Hintz got tangled up in the corner on the day of the 2026 trade deadline. Hintz missed the rest of the season with torn hamstring, including a first-round playoff loss to the Minnesota Wild.

That was the second fight of the night, and there were some heavy collisions as well. While Colorado and Dallas has become one of the top rivalries in the NHL, their games don’t typically include this much violence.

Fedor Svechkov introduced himself to the rivalry by picking a fight with Radek Faksa late in the first period after the latter landed a big open-ice hit on Jaden Schwartz. Svechkov was assessed 17 minutes in penalties, including two for instigating and a 10-minute misconduct.

Both teams played this game shorthanded. Wyatt Johnston was a late scratch for the Stars because of illness, but Dallas was able to replace him in the lineup.

Zachary L’Heureux was a late scratch for the Avs, but Colorado did not have anyone here to replace him with so the visitors had to play with 11 forwards and six defensemen. The Avs were already missing star defenseman Cale Makar, who did not make the trip to be with his wife as she went into labor, and forward Logan O’Connor, who is away from the team after his father died last week.

When Schwartz was serving Svechkov’s two-minute penalty and while MacKinnon was unavailable because of the fighting major and repairs to his face, the Avs had to play with nine forwards.

Artturi Lehkonen opened the scoring at 11:32 of the first period. Josh Manson’s shot went off MacKinnon’s skate and into the slot. Lehkonen was able to backhand it past Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger for his fourth of the season.

Tyler Seguin evened the score at 19:06 of the first with a centering pass that went off Lehkonen and into the Colorado net. Lehkonen was engaged in a net-front battle with old friend Mikko Rantanen while the Stars were on the power play stemming from the Svechkov-Faksa fight.

Necas scored twice in the middle period to push the Avs in front. He had an incredible sequence to help keep possession of the puck and a few seconds later blistered a one-timer from MacKinnon for his third goal of the season.

The Avs had 26 seconds of a 5-on-3 late in the second because MacKinnon drew a tripping penalty while the Avs were on the power play. He was also bleeding again, but the Avs took a timeout and MacKinnon was able to participate in the 5-on-3 and kickstarted a goal-scoring sequence that ended with Necas pouncing on the rebound of a Gabe Landeskog shot for his fourth of the campaign.

Hintz made it a 3-2 game early in the third period. Seguin collected the puck behind the Colorado net and found Hintz cutting into the left circle for a one-timer at 3:17 of the period.

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