Nathan MacKinnon is expected to play and Semyon Varlamov will be in goal Saturday when the Avalanche visit Dallas in the second game of a back-to-back set.
The Avalanche didn't have a morning skate after arriving in Dallas following their 3-1 win against Anaheim on Friday at the Pepsi Center, but coach Jared Bednar said after the game that he expected MacKinnon would be in the lineup after sustaining an eye injury when high-sticked by Ducks center Derek Grant at 12:54 of the first period.
MacKinnon missed the rest of the game; Grant wasn't penalized.
"It looks like he's going to be OK," Bednar said. "He took a stick in the eye and he had some vision problems immediately after, but now things have settled down and it looks like he should be good to go for (Saturday). It hit him right in the eye and, yes, he had to come out of the game, but I think we're fortunate. It looks like he'll probably play."
Here are the GAME NOTES.
The Avalanche already were down a center with Tyson Jost scratched because of a hyperextended knee and bone bruise, so J.T. Compher (21:27) and Matt Duchene (21:18) logged more minutes than usual. Carl Soderberg (13:38) played about a minute above his average.
The Avalanche dominated. They outshot the Ducks 30-8 through the first two periods -- having six power plays helped -- and 39-18 for the game.
Ducks starter John Gibson stopped 17 of 18 shots in the first period before leaving with an upper-body injury. Former Avalanche goalie Reto Berra relieved and was exceptional, turning aside 19 of 20 shots.
Colorado finished 2-of-8 on power plays, getting a first-period goal from Gabriel Landeskog and the tiebreaker from Tyson Barrie with 5:39 remaining in the third after Ducks defenseman Brandon Montour scored while shorthanded.
Nikita Zadorov scored into an empty net -- the Avalanche's fifth empty-netter of the young season -- with half a second to go. It was his first goal in 82 games in an Avalanche uniform.
Zadorov had a game-high five shots while playing 20:44. Six teammates had four shots on goal.
"We had a ton of shots and that's part of our game plan, our identity," Barrie said. "We're a young and fast team and we have a lot of energy."
Colorado had two goals waved off because of goalie interference.
The Avalanche (4-1-0) have won three consecutive games for the first time since March 16-20, 2016, when they knocked off Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton in succession.
Haven't seen anything like this in a while ... pic.twitter.com/EoyoaDFU7E
— Rick Sadowski (@RickS7) October 14, 2017
"I'm not sure we won two in a row (last season)," Bednar said, laughing. "Did we? I can't remember. It didn't feel like it.
"I said it before, it's a different group, different players, different leadership, different coaches. We're thinking about this year. I'm happy with what we're seeing, but the work's just begun and our guys know that. We know we have something to prove. Respect is going to be earned every day and it's going to take the whole season to earn it back."
The Avalanche have outscored teams 18-10 and allowed two goals at even strength. The Stars (1-3-0) have scored eight goals, four at even strength.
"I liked a lot of what we did," Bednar said. "No. 1, we were skating, we were skating back into our zone, we had five guys in there to break out and we did that cleanly a lot. Up ice we were relentless on the puck. We created power plays, we created secondary opportunities by tracking the puck, forcing turnovers and stealing pucks. Guys are buying in and it's good to see. We earned that win."
Backup goalie Jonathan Bernier wasn't tested much by his former Ducks teammates until the third period, when he faced 10 shots. He's allowed five goals in two games, three on power plays and two shorthanded.
"I tried to stay warm, stretch and moving," he said. "You're just trying to stay focused, but it is kind of hard to stay in it. You have to talk to yourself, keep the legs going and things like that to stay warm." As for beating the Ducks:
"These games are always extra special. The way we played was pretty amazing. The last two games it's been pretty easy for the goalies. We used our speed, we cycled the puck, spent a lot of time in their zone. We wore them down. Their goalies were pretty good, it could have been a lot worse.
"It's always nice to get that first (win) out of the way, especially against a former team. It's a really good feeling right now."
Here's the expected Avalanche lineup:
FORWARDS Sven Andrighetto -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen Alexander Kerfoot -- Matt Duchene -- Nail Yakupov Gabriel Landeskog -- J.T. Compher -- Colin Wilson Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Blake Comeau
DEFENSE Nikita Zadorov -- Erik Johnson Patrik Nemeth -- Tyson Barrie Mark Barberio -- Chris Bigras
GOALIES Semyon Varlamov Jonathan Bernier