For the third straight game the Stars could muster just one goal and for the third straight game they came away with no points.

Stars coach Dave Tippett juggled his lines a bit for the game, moving Mike Modano and Brad Richards on to different lines. Richards played with Steve Ott and Jere Lehtinen and Modano played with Niklas Hagman and Antti Miettinen.

But the Stars scored just once, on the power play midway, through the first period.

"Moving forward, we're just going to have to start generating things under pressure," Tippett said. "We have to be willing to get done what we need to. It’s less about combinations and more about execution."

The Stars had some great chances in the game, but couldn't extend their lead to 2-0. Loui Eriksson was stoned by Jose Theodore on one and Brad Richards hit a post on another. But as the game moved along the Stars chances started to fade and that meant it would stay one shot game.

Colorado pushed hard in the third period, and turned momentum its way with some special teams play.

After killing off a Stars' power play early in the third Colorado struck for its first goal of the day when defenseman Scott Hannan pinched in and scored off the rebound of an Andrew Brunette shot. That came just 24 seconds after the penalty kill.

One minute later Colorado went on the power play and the Avs cashed in again when  Brunette redirected a Peter Forsberg pass past Turco and the Avalanche had the lead for good.

"In the third period, we were just too tentative," said Stars goalie Marty Turco, who was excellent in keeping it a 1-0 game through the first 40 minutes. "You can't be like that. We knew the Avs were going to pour it on, especially at home. We did a good job, just not a good-enough job of responding to the pressure."

The Stars' best chance to tie came when Eriksson set up Brenden Morrow, who was driving the net, but Morrow's redirection hit the crossbar. That's the kind of afternoon it was for the Stars, who have are struggling to find ways to win these tightly played games with teams in the playoff hunt.

"We're kidding ourselves if we think we are going to play deep in the playoffs doing the things we are doing right now," Morrow said. "These are good games for us, we just need to learn how to win these types of games and close them out. I don't think we are going to get an easy game the rest of the year. We need to get our game going quick."

The Stars three-game slide coupled with San Jose's eight-game winning streak has put the Sharks in good shape for now as far as the Pacific Division race. They are just one point behind with three games in hand.

But the Stars can't worry about the Sharks right now. They have to start finding ways to get some pucks into the net. You won't win many scoring just one, as they have found out during their current little slide.

[He'll] be re-evaluated tomorrow," said Stars coach Dave Tippett. "He is fighting through some bumps and bruises to get up to speed."

Saturday was Niskanen's second game back after missing three contests after getting hit with a puck near his ankle.

Stars captain Brenden Morrow left the game briefly in the third period after he hit head on a stanchion near the benches following a hit from Colorado defenseman Jeff Finger, who was penalized for interference. Morrow, who was down on the ice for a few minutes, eventually returned to the game.

Mike Modano also was shaken up in the third period when he hit the ice hard after being taken down by Colorado defenseman Ruslan Salei. Modano finished the game.