Calvin Pickard gets the start Wednesday in Dallas when the Avalanche attempt to stretch their preseason record to 5-0-0 following a 2-0 win against Minnesota on Tuesday at Pepsi Center behind Semyon Varlamov's 30 saves.
The Avalanche continue to evaluate players -- 30 remain on the training camp roster -- but coach Jared Bednar also is seeking positive results. It can't hurt to head into the regular season with some momentum, unlike the past two seasons.
"We want to win every game we play, exhibition or not," he said. "That has to be our mindset. We have to believe that we can do it, and we have to have that mindset that we're going into the game with a purpose, and that is winning the game even though we're sprinkling guys in the lineup and seeing how guys react in certain situations.
"Our goal is still to win the game. That is how you become a winning team. You have to strive to do that every night."
This will be Pickard's second start against the Stars. He stopped 22 of 24 shots in two periods in the Avalanche's 4-2 win Sept. 28 in Denver. Kent Simpson made seven third-period saves and got the win when the Avalanche scored three times in the period to wipe out a 2-1 deficit.
Matt Duchene will make his preseason debut after playing for World Cup of Hockey champion Team Canada. He skated at right wing Wednesday morning -- the Avalanche are traveling on game days in the preseason -- with left wing Gabriel Landeskog and center Nathan MacKinnon.
The Avalanche, who have outscored teams 13-4 in four games, need to get off to a better start against Dallas than they did against the Wild. Minnesota outshot Colorado 13-2 in the first period and owned a lopsided 24-4 advantage in shots and attempts.
“For me, we were good for 13 minutes," Bednar said. "The shots were 2-2 for 13 minutes. Neither team was generating, but I liked that we were getting in and out of our zone, giving up two shots. Then we started running around a little bit. Next thing you know, we’re getting outshot badly and the zone time was poor for the last seven minutes. But I like the way we started the second and the way we played from there.…
The Avalanche got goals from defenseman Chris Bigras and center Carl Soderberg 73 seconds apart in the second period, when they played with more emotion and outshot the Wild 13-7.
Jarome Iginla passed across to Bigras, who pinched down low on the right side, for a shot into a half-open net behind goalie Darcy Kuemper at 9:18.
Soderberg converted the rebound of Trent Vogelhuber's shot at 10:31. Vogelhuber played his first game since recovering from an appendectomy he had before camp. He's wearing jersey No. 26, Paul Stastny's old digits.
Varlamov has stopped 63 of 64 shots in two games, and the Avalanche penalty killers are 17-for-17 in the preseason. They killed three Wild power plays Tuesday.
“I feel good right now, but it's preseason," Varlamov said. "The team is playing well right now, the support is really helpful. When we’re playing solid defensively, it’s always good for the goalies. When you're facing lots of outside shots it’s helpful too. So I think we’re doing a really good job of boxing out the players.
"I can tell the players are doing a great job. They let me see lots of shots, which is good; that's what I like. The system is working right now defensively."
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The Avalanche will hold their annual charity golf tournament Thursday and practice Friday. They play Los Angeles in Las Vegas on Saturday in the preseason finale.