Considering the lineups each team dressed, the Avalanche should have come away with a victory on Saturday night. It wasn’t exactly pretty, but Colorado got the job done with a 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars at Ball Arena.

Here are three takeaways from Colorado’s third straight preseason victory.

1. If anyone other than Zakhar Bardakov is centering the fourth line come opening night, it will be a major upset. The 24-year-old center scored his first goal, recovering from a big hit to make a nice move on the Dallas goaltender. It’s the rest of his game that will keep him around, though. He’s been attached at the hip to Parker Kelly throughout camp and has shown well on the penalty kill. It would appear it’s his job to lose.
2. Avalanche coach Jared Bednar has said he’d still give a look to Ross Colton at center to see if it’s something he’d like to try on the third line, and he did on Saturday. It’s hard to take too much from one preseason game, but every indication is that the organization prefers Colton on the wing, freeing him up to be a bit more of a menace on the ice.
3. Whether or not there’s room on the roster for Gavin Brindley is a real question, but he’s doing everything to make the Avalanche think twice about sending him down. He scored his third goal of the preseason, taking advantage of a nice play by Ivan Ivan in the second period, and earned praise from Bednar after the game. With the season inching closer, intensity is picking up each day, and Brindley is matching it. “I think it’s important to keep building every game in the preseason to get ready to go for game one of the season,” Brindley said after the game.