Eric Nystrom beat Semyon Varlamov for his eighth goal of the season off assists from Vernon Fiddler and Stephane Robidas to give the Dallas Stars a 1-0 lead over the Colorado Avalanche after one period on Monday at the Pepsi Center.

It was an opening period marred by fighting and penalties. Krys Barch dropped the gloves with Avalanche forward Cody McLeod just three minutes into the game. McLeod would draw an additional two minutes for instigating the fight and then a 10 minute misconduct penalty. That wasn't it: Dallas' Sheldon Souray and Tom Wandell would each take penalties for slashing and hooking (respectively) on the Avs' Daniel Winnik. Colorado's Ryan O'Byrne would also get two minutes for cross-checking.

Colorado out-shot the Stars 11-8 in the first period. Dallas goalie Andrew Raycroft made several highlight reel saves in the first.

For more coverage, visit our Avalanche blog Mile High Hockey and our Stars blog Defending Big D.