It was role-reversal time for the Avalanche on Saturday, and that wasn't a good thing.

They weren't dominated by Dallas in their 3-1 loss the way they dictated play Friday in a 3-1 win against Anaheim, but a lack of energy and subpar compete level for two periods was costly enough.

"We're not going to make any excuses, but I didn't like the way we skated the first two periods," coach Jared Bednar said. "Not just the way we skated, but our energy was down. We just weren't as competitive on the puck as we were in previous games."

The Avalanche (4-2-0) had their winning streak end at three games.

They were outshot 14-4 in the first period and 14-8 in the second and fell behind 2-0 on goals by Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, whose goal with one second left in the second period came while Sven Andrighetto was in the penalty box for holding.

They closed to 2-1 on Matt Duchene's third goal of the season 1:26 into the third period, but it was as close as they'd get. Esa Lindell closed out the Avalanche with an empty-net goal.

Colorado outshot Dallas 11-8 in the third.

"I think the third period we showed what type of team we could be, but it is too little, too late by then," Duchene said. "Obviously, they get that empty-netter and we make it a close game, but if we have that work ethic start to finish ... maybe we let our foot off the gas a little bit. 'Oh, we're 4-1, we can give 40 (minutes) away.' But you can't afford to give any away in this league."

Duchene had three shots on goal in 15:50 and won 10 of 16 faceoffs, but linemates Alexander Kerfoot and Nail Yakupov didn't have a shot. Neither did defenseman Tyson Barrie, who had 21 shots in the first five games.

Nathan MacKinnon had three shots in 18:36 one night after getting high-sticked in the eye in the second period.

Goalie Semyon Varlamov was solid again while making 34 saves but absorbed his first loss in four games.

"It's a good learning lesson for this group," Bednar said. "It's a different group then last year, but now it is the first time we've realized that we didn't leave it all on the line for 60 minutes, and that's something we need to do every night."

The Avalanche failed to convert on four power plays and are 4-of-29 overall, 22nd in the NHL at 13.8 percent. They killed five of six penalties and have killed 19 of 26 overall, 29th in the league at 73.1 percent.

Next up: Tuesday at Nashville.



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