DALLAS (AP) — Nathan MacKinnon took a stick to the face, had a part in both of Colorado's strange goals in the second period and capped his night with an empty-netter for his 50th career playoff goal.
And Mackenzie Blackwood backed up the Avalanche in a big way as the goalie made his playoff debut after 252 regular-season games for three teams over seven seasons.
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Dallas Stars center Roope Hintz (24) celebrates after scoring with Jamie Benn (14) and Mason Marchment (27) during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game against the Colorado Avalanche in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Colorado Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews (7) celebrates scoring past Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger (29) during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Colorado Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews (7) stops a shot in front of goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood (39) during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game against the Dallas Stars in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Colorado Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews (7) celebrates with teammates after scoring during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game against the Dallas Stars in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Dallas Stars center Roope Hintz (24) shoots against Colorado Avalanche goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood (39) during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Dallas Stars center Tyler Seguin (91) and Colorado Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson (6) collide while fighting for the puck during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon (29) celebrates after scoring a power-play goal during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game against the Dallas Stars in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger (29) skates between periods during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game against the Colorado Avalanche in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Dallas Stars center Mavrik Bourque (22) controls the puck as Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon (29) looks on during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Dallas Stars center Matt Duchene (95) looks to shoot around Colorado Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews (7) during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Colorado Avalanche left wing Artturi Lehkonen (62) celebrates with teammates after scoring against the Dallas Stars in the second period during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon (29) is attended to by medical staff after he was high-sticked during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game against the Dallas Stars in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon (29) celebrates after scoring a power-play goal during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game against the Dallas Stars in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Those two goals in the second period put the Avalanche ahead to stay, and Blackwood had 23 saves in a 5-1 win over the Dallas Stars in the opener of their first-round Western Conference playoff series Saturday night.
“I thought it was solid, really solid,” MacKinnon said of the opener of the Avs' eighth consecutive postseason. “We had a lot of good looks, a lot of attempts. Maybe hit the net a little bit more, but I thought we played a pretty solid two-way game.”
MacKinnon scored on a shot that deflected off Stars defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin, and fluttered past goalie Jake Oettinger late in the second period. That came during an extended power play, a double minor against the Stars after MacKinnon took a high stick to the face.
“Obviously they’re going to key on him like we do on some of their players,” coach Jared Bednar said of last season's NHL MVP. “But really strong defensive game from him, and obviously get-up and go on the offensive side. He was making plays all night.”
Blackwood stopped four shots in a span of 11 seconds midway through the second period just before MacKinnon assisted on Artturi Lehkonen's goal.
Lehkonen was following his initial shot and falling down after a collision in front of the net when the puck ricocheted off his lower left leg into the top corner of the net. The play was reviewed and officials ruled that there was no kicking motion by Lehkonen while tumbling to the ice with Mavrik Bourque.
There wasn't much Oettinger could do on either of those goals as the Stars lost Game 1 in their eighth consecutive series in the NHL playoffs since 2022. They are 0-7 in series openers under coach Pete DeBoer, six of those coming at home.
“I guess the good news is we’ve come back and won more than our share of those series where we have (lost Game 1),” said DeBoer, whose teams made it to the West final each of the past two seasons. “So I think we got to concentrate on that.”
Game 2 is Monday night in Dallas, before the series shifts to Denver.
Devon Toews gave Colorado a 3-1 lead with 7:04 left. MacKinnon had his empty-net tally with 3:08 left, 11 seconds before Charlie Coyle scored.
This series-opening loss for the Stars came after they finished the regular season on an 0-5-2 stretch that included four losses at home after being 28-5-3 before that.
Blackwood is one of 11 players who have seen action since being acquired through Colorado's eight in-season trades. The goalie, whose first five NHL season where with New Jersey, came from San Jose in December and played in 37 games for the Avs.
Those deals included the Avalanche trading Mikko Rantanen on Jan. 24 to Carolina in the East, He played only 13 games before a deadline deal March 7 sent him back to the Central Division with the Stars and included a $96 million, eight-year contract extension.
Rantanen, who had 101 points (34 goals, 67 assists) in 81 playoff games for the Avalanche had three shots on goal and one block over 18 minutes in his postseason debut with the Stars.
Oettinger had 19 saves, three when Colorado had a two-man advantage in the first period when Cale Makar drew two tripping penalties only 36 seconds apart from each other.
Roope Hintz, called for penalty against MacKinnon, got the Stars to 2-1 on his goal with 13:15 left in the game, just before the end of a power play and about a minute after DeBoer called a timeout.
Bednar got his 50th playoff win with the Avs — in his 82nd postseason game, equal to a full regular season. That broke a tie with Bob Hartley for the most wins by a coach in franchise history. Both won Stanley Cups — Bednar in 2022, and Hartley in 2001.
This story has been corrected to show that Blackwood has played seven seasons, not eight.
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Dallas Stars center Roope Hintz (24) celebrates after scoring with Jamie Benn (14) and Mason Marchment (27) during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game against the Colorado Avalanche in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Colorado Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews (7) celebrates scoring past Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger (29) during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Colorado Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews (7) stops a shot in front of goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood (39) during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game against the Dallas Stars in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Colorado Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews (7) celebrates with teammates after scoring during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game against the Dallas Stars in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Dallas Stars center Roope Hintz (24) shoots against Colorado Avalanche goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood (39) during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Dallas Stars center Tyler Seguin (91) and Colorado Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson (6) collide while fighting for the puck during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon (29) celebrates after scoring a power-play goal during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game against the Dallas Stars in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger (29) skates between periods during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game against the Colorado Avalanche in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Dallas Stars center Mavrik Bourque (22) controls the puck as Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon (29) looks on during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Dallas Stars center Matt Duchene (95) looks to shoot around Colorado Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews (7) during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Colorado Avalanche left wing Artturi Lehkonen (62) celebrates with teammates after scoring against the Dallas Stars in the second period during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon (29) is attended to by medical staff after he was high-sticked during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game against the Dallas Stars in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon (29) celebrates after scoring a power-play goal during a first-round NHL hockey playoff game against the Dallas Stars in Dallas, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
NEW YORK (AP) — A former fashion model testifying in Harvey Weinstein ’s retrial on sexual assault charges was confronted on the stand Tuesday with a private journal in which she wrote about people who sexually abused her, but notably left out the disgraced former Hollywood mogul.
Michael Cibella, a lawyer for Weinstein, noted that the journal by Kaja Sokola names at least two people who had sexually assaulted her. Neither one of them, she acknowledged to the jury in Manhattan, was Weinstein.
Instead, the “Pulp Fiction” producer is mentioned in the writings for altogether different reasons. Under an entry for “Harvey W” Sokola wrote that he was “promising me help,” but “nothing came out of it.”
“The trauma that Harvey Weinstein inflicted on you was that he made promises that he didn’t keep, even as you accused two other men of sexually assaulting you,” Cibella said.
The Polish model, now a 39-year-old psychotherapist, pushed back at the characterization.
“That’s your interpretation and I’ll leave that with you,” Sokola responded from the witness stand. “Harvey made promises he didn’t keep -- and he sexually assaulted me.”
Earlier in the day, Sokola had argued that the journal, which she wrote in Polish in 2015, shouldn’t be discussed in open court at all.
She said the writing has been part of her treatment for substance abuse. One of the steps of the program, she explained, was to list all the people and things with which she held resentment.
“This is very inappropriate,” Sokola pleaded as one of Weinstein’s attorneys began to cite portions of the text to the jury. “Please don’t read that. This is my personal things. I’m not on trial here.”
Judge Curtis Farber assured Sokola that he would only permit limited questioning around the document. He also said he had concerns about the journal’s completeness and authenticity and wondering how defense lawyers had obtained what appeared to be private medical records.
“This might backfire tremendously” for the defense, Farber said at one point, as prosecutors also strongly opposed inclusion of the journal as evidence in the trial. “That’s the risk they’re willing to take.”
Weinstein's lawyers, in their cross-examination of Sokola that began Friday, have sought to cast Sokola as a wannabe actor who tried to leverage her consensual relations with the former studio boss.
Cibella, to that end, quizzed Sokola on Tuesday about what she told prosecutors during a 2020 interview.
He contended that a prosecutor’s handwritten notes from the meeting don’t include any mention of Weinstein using force or tearing off her clothes, as she’s described the incident to jurors in her testimony.
“Is it a fact that you never made an allegation in 2020 that Mr. Weinstein used force?” Cibella asked.
“That is a lie,” Sokola fired back.
Cibella also questioned Sokola about her communications with Weinstein in the years after she claimed he had sexually assaulted her in 2006.
Among them were phone messages, text messages and emails in which she tried to meet up in person with the co-founder of the production company Miramax or asked him for help on various movie industry opportunities.
Sokola, who is expected to return to the stand on Wednesday, testified last week that Weinstein exploited her dreams of an acting career to subject her to unwanted sexual advances, starting days after they met in 2002, while she was a 16-year-old on a modeling trip to New York.
Some of those allegations are beyond the legal time limit for criminal charges, but Weinstein faces a criminal sex act charge over Sokola’s claim that he forced oral sex on her in 2006.
Prosecutors added the charge to the landmark #MeToo case last year, after an appeals court overturned Weinstein’s 2020 conviction. The guilty verdict pertained to allegations from two other women, who also have testified or are expected to testify at the retrial.
Weinstein, 73, has pleaded not guilty and denies ever sexually assaulting anyone.
The Associated Press generally does not name people who allege they have been sexually assaulted, but Sokola has given her permission to be identified.
Associated Press reporter Jennifer Peltz in New York contributed to this story.
Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo.
Former film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in state court in Manhattan in New York, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (Justin Lane/Pool Photo via AP)
Kaja Sokol arrives at Manhattan criminal court before the start of Harvey Weinstein's trial in New York, on Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (Bing Guan/Pool Photo via AP)