Stephen Hawkings, AP sports writer
Dallas — Tyler Seguin feels like the Dallas Stars have been getting better for some time. They finally have a streak that shows that.
Seguin had two goals and an assist and the Stars beat the lowly Colorado Avalanche 4-2 on Thursday night for their first three-game winning streak of the season.
"Definitely, it's something that we've been needing, and obviously not enough yet," Seguin said. "We're making strides. It's about playing all together. Got over the hump of two wins in a row. Got three, and want to keep going."
After being the top seed in the Western Conference playoffs last season, the Stars are nearly halfway through this season — and moved up into eighth place with their latest win.
"Winning's a lot of fun, so we're going to try and keep this going," said Jamie Benn, their captain who had three assists.
Seguin's 12th goal of the season, a one-timer from the middle of the left circle on a pass from Benn, put the Stars up 2-0 in the first period. He added his 13th into an empty net in the closing seconds.
Seguin and Benn assisted on Jamie Oleksiak's wrister from the right circle for a 3-1 lead early in the second period, right after Benn had a shot ricochet off the crossbar.
The Stars are 4-0-1 their last five games, and have won five of seven.
"We've played pretty sound hockey for a good period of time," coach Lindy Ruff said. "We're getting more and more guys on the scoreboard, getting our key guys, our big guys are scoring."
Colorado has won only three of its last 17 games, and has the NHL's worst record at 12-22-1.
"We just got to keep going, keep digging in and try to win some hockey games," coach Jared Bednar said.
Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen stopped 13 of 14 shots before coming out of the game with 15 minutes left because of NHL concussion protocol after being barreled over by Jarome Iginla. Lehtonen was back on the bench before end of the game and Ruff said he was OK.
Antti Niemi took over in net, and about 2 1/2 minutes later gave up Mikhail Grigorenko's goal off a rebound that got the Avs within a goal.
Calvin Pickard started in goal for Colorado had 30 saves while Semyon Varlamov missed another game because of a groin injury.
Matt Duchene got his 400th career point late in the first period when he scored his 13th goal of the season. The net was open with Lehtonen out of position after another shot slipped under his pads. But Duchene was then shoved from behind by Radek Faksa and fell backward on the ice after his face hit the crossbar.
Duchene, the third overall pick in the 2009 draft by Colorado, became only the second member of that draft class to reach 400 NHL points. The other is New York Islanders captain John Tavares, who was the first overall pick that year and reached 400 points late in the 2014-15 season.
"I didn't really think about it much. It's obviously nice to get there and get that out of the way," Duchene said. "It's something that maybe I'll enjoy later on in the year or after the season's over, but it's never really anytime to celebrate when you lose a game."
NOTES: Dallas was 0-for-6 on the power play; Colorado 0-for-4. ... Stars C Cody Eakin was back after serving a four-game suspension for charging New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist on Dec. 15. ... Tyson Barrie assisted on both Colorado goals. ... Stars RW Patrick Eaves got his 100th career assist in the first period on Devin Shore's sixth goal of the season.
Up next:
Avalanche: Hosts the New York Rangers on New Year's Eve. Colorado has lost nine straight home games since Nov. 15.
Stars: Home for their annual New Year's Eve game. They host Florida on Saturday night.
