The Avalanche dropped Wednesday night's preseason opener, a 2-1 loss to Anaheim at the Pepsi Center, with both Ducks' goals coming on power plays.

Defenseman Hampus Lindholm scored from the left point with 5:56 remaining in the third period to break a 1-1 tie. The goal came 10 seconds after Avalanche left wing Cody McLeod was penalized for boarding Ben Lovejoy.

Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said he thought there were a "lot of positives," especially with the team's effort and defensive play in even-strength situations, but he wasn't happy with all the penalties.

The Avalanche took eight penalties, seven of which led to Ducks power plays, and too many of the infractions took place in the offensive end.

"The area where I'm not pleased ... I didn't like the penalties in the offensive zone," Roy said. "Way too many penalties in the offensive zone. I think we gave up seven power plays and four of them came from the red line in. That's what I'm talking about, managing the game. We have to learn how to win and you cannot take those penalties. Three of those penalties came at the end of a period. This is the time when you have to be a lot smarter if you want to win those games."

Avalanche center Paul Stastny, who scored the only first-period goal, went off for interference with 35 seconds left in the period; McLeod took a roughing penalty with 4:48 left in the second period and Stastny interfered with Ducks goalie John Gibson with 45 seconds to go in the second.

The Ducks' first goal was scored by Devante Smith-Pelly in the second period during a goalmouth scramble with four seconds remaining on a hooking penalty to Alex Tanguay.

The Avalanche managed 28 shots on goal against Ducks starter Frederik Andersen and Bishop, with six shots coming on three fruitless power plays.

The Avalanche had a tendency to overpass and look for pretty plays last season, and the same tendencies surfaced Wednesday.

"Now we are going to have to address the offensive side," Roy said. "We're going to have to stop being too fancy. Look at the three goals that were scored. None were perfect goals -- scrambles in front of the net and a screen shot. I think this is the area that we have to understand and accept.

"But I'm very happy overall with the effort. The guys are trying what we're asking. Sometimes you'd like to have something in the end to show them we're in the right direction."

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Semyon Varlamov played the entire game in goal for the Avalanche and he stopped 22 of 24 shots. He made a number of good stops and couldn't be faulted for either goal, though the Ducks didn't exactly use their "A" lineup.

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Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon, the first overall pick in the June draft, had two shots on goal, two takeaways, one blocked shot and he won seven of 14 faceoffs. He logged 14:59 in ice time and skated on a line with Jamie McGinn and PA Parenteau at even strength.

"Pretty solid," MacKinnon said when asked to assess his play. "I thought I was pretty physically involved in the 'D' zone as well as the offensive zone. There are some things I have to adjust for sure and improve, but I thought I played pretty solid tonight."

MacKinnon said he enjoyed playing against a true opponent for the first time, as opposed to intrasquad scrimmages and the Burgundy and White Game last Sunday.

"It's a lot better," he said. "It's tough playing against your teammates. You don't want to run them or anything. You want to come together as a team. It's about winning now, so it's definitely a different mentality and a lot more fun. We lost, but I had so much fun tonight. It was great to play my first pro game."

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These were the Avalanche line combinations, defense pairings and goalies for Wednesday's game against the Ducks:

Gabriel Landeskog-Paul Stastny-Alex Tanguay
Jamie McGinn-Nathan MacKinnon-PA Parenteau
Cody McLeod-John Mitchell-J.T. Wyman
Troy Bourke-Colin Smith-Garrett Meurs

Chris Bigras-Erik Johnson
Jan Hejda-Stefan Elliott
Mason Geertsen-Nate Guenin

Semyon Varlamov
Spencer Martin

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