DENVER, April 7 (UPI) -- Peter Forsberg and Alex Tanguay scored in the first nine minutes Wednesday night, igniting Denver to a 3-1 win over Dallas in their playoff opener.
Joe Sakic added a third-period goal for the Avalanche, who had their streak of nine straight division titles snapped and who are trying to avoid elimination in the quarterfinals for the second straight year.
Dallas goaltender Marty Turco missed four of the last five regular-season games as part of a suspension and he surrendered two quick ones Wednesday night.
Forsberg scored on a tip-in 6:14 into the game and Tanguay added a wrister 2:23 later.
Niko Kapanen kept Dallas from being shut out by scoring with 6:30 to play.
Dave Aebischer made 33 saves for the Avalanche, 18 of them coming in the final period. The second game of the series will be played Saturday.
