from Mike Chambers of the Denver Post,

Not even a mandatory five-day break can cool off the Avalanche.

In the rubber match of a five-game, regular-season series Saturday night — the Avs’ first game since playing one week earlier — Colorado defeated the Dallas Stars 4-1 to extend its winning streak to six games.

“I really liked our effort tonight. I thought we did a lot of really good things,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said....

The last time Colorado (23-15-3, 49 points) won six straight was March 23 to April 5, 2014. In just 42 games, the Avs have now exceeded their win total and point total from last season, when they finished a wretched 22-56-4 and 48 points in 82 games.

“It was a big win for us coming out of the bye week and a good way to start the second half of the season,” Comeau said. “Different group, different mindset than last year. We’re playing with a lot of confidence right now. I think winning games is doing that. And I’ve said it before: We’ve had big turnover this year, youthful energy and had our top line really step for us this year. We’ve had good goaltending, good special teams and the nice thing is, nobody’s satisfied.”

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Game highlights are below...