Mikko Rantanen scored a tiebreaking goal 46 seconds after J.T. Compher tied it late in the third period, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Dallas Stars 3-2 in Denver on Saturday night.

Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist, and Semyon Varlamov stopped 27 shots for the Avalanche, who have won four straight and six of their last seven. Rantanen also had an assist and now has an NHL-best 38 points this season.

Radek Faksa and Jamie Benn had goals, Alexander Radulov had two assists and Anton Khudobin had 33 saves for the Stars, who lost in coach Jim Montgomery's return to Denver. Montgomery coached Denver University for five seasons and led the Pioneers to the 2017 national championship.

Dallas has dropped three of its past four games.

The Stars trailed 1-0 when Faksa got the equalizer after Dallas won a faceoff in the Colorado end and Radulov put a shot on Varlamov. The rebound went to the left, where Faksa put it in at 11:32. It was his fourth of the season.

Benn scored his ninth at 15:03 to put Dallas ahead 2-1, but the Avalanche rallied. Compher scored at 17:18 -- his third goal in the last two nights -- and Rantanen knocked in an Erik Johnson rebound with 1:56 left for the winner. It was his 10th of the season.

The Stars pulled Khudobin for an extra skater in the final minutes and nearly tied it on a late flurry in front of Varlamov.

MacKinnon got his 15th of the season late in the second period. After Dallas killed off a power play, Gabriel Landeskog got the puck down low and flipped a pass to Rantanen near the right circle. Rantanen sent a pass to the other side of the crease to MacKinnon, who beat Khudobin on the short side at 13:11.

--Field Level Media