• Recap
• Bleachers

Colorado beats Dallas 3-1

Sep 18, 2009 - 3:40 AM DENVER(AP) -- Marek Svatos and Ryan Stoa scored goals in the second period, and Wojtek Wolski added another in the third as the Colorado Avalanche beat the Dallas Stars 3-1 on Thursday night.

Brendan Morrow scored for the Stars, who were playing their second preseason game in as many nights. Dallas beat Tampa Bay 4-3 in a shootout on Wednesday.

The new-look Avalanche opened the preseason without Joe Sakic, who announced his retirement July 9, and with a rookie head coach, Joe Sacco.

The sparse Pepsi Center crowd did see a familiar combination when Colorado scored in the third period. Working along the boards, Paul Stastny sent the puck low to Milan Hejduk, who fed Wolski skating toward the net. Wolski lifted the puck past Matt Clime to give Colorado a 3-1 lead.

Morrow scored a power-play goal with 8:15 left in the first period to give Dallas a 1-0 lead. Svatos, who nearly scored early in the first period, tied it with a power-play goal 2:13 into the second.

Stoa, a rookie out of the University of Minnesota, gave Colorado a 2-1 lead 6 minutes later with an unassisted goal.

Dallas' Alex Auld allowed two goals and had 12 saves before being replaced by Clime, who had 13 saves. Colorado's Craig Anderson made 18 saves.

Avalanche fans got their first look at 18-year-old Matt Duchene. The center, who was the third overall pick in the 2009 draft, had one shot on goal in 16:28 of ice time.