Pavelski is the 10th United States-born player in NHL history to score 400 goals.
"It's fantastic, good for him," Stars coach Rick Bowness said. "A fantastic career, and a long career. Four hundred goals, that's a tough thing to achieve in this league. Congrats to him. Very, very happy for him."
Jake Oettinger (32 saves) and Braden Holtby (four saves) helped Dallas (9-7-2) win its third straight and for the fifth time in six games.
"I think it just goes to show how well we've been playing defensively," Oettinger said about the Stars' past two wins against the Edmonton Oilers and Avalanche. "If you look at the scoring chances, I don't think either team has had a ton. Especially teams like that, it seems like they get a few freebies every game, they're that good. But we haven't given any of that, and the guys have done such a good job committing to defense. I think, if you look back two years ago when we went to the [Stanley Cup Final], we're playing like that team right now, and we just have to keep that going."
Oettinger left at 12:38 of the second period following a collision with Avalanche forward Nicolas Aube-Kubel but returned at the start of the third period.
"Obviously, I took a hit there," Oettinger said. "It's just part of the protocol that when they think you took a hard hit, to pull you out. Obviously, the NHL cares about players and their health. I think it's important that we have that in place. You never want to come out of a game, but you got to do what you got to do."
Cale Makar scored for the fifth straight game, and Darcy Kuemper made 19 saves for the Avalanche (10-6-1). Nazem Kadri had his point streak end at 10 games.
"We weren't ready to start the game on time for me," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "I just think they came out with a lot of jump and were more competitive early in that game. We were lucky it was only two goals, but two is enough. I mean, we spotted them two goals in the first and ended up losing by two. I think we got marginally better as they game went on, but still didn't do enough things to win the hockey game."