DENVER -- The Colorado Avalanche were dominating the Anaheim Ducks in every aspect but the score. Faced with the prospect of wasting a great effort on home ice, Colorado turned Anaheim's sixth slashing penalty into a game-winner.

Tyson Barrie scored a tiebreaking power-play goal late in the third period and the surprising Avalanche beat the Anaheim Ducks 3-1 for their fourth win in five games to start the season on Friday night.

Gabriel Landeskog also scored and Nikita Zadorov sealed the win with an empty-netter with .5 of a second left.

Mikko Rantanen and Sven Andrighetto had two assists each for Colorado, and Jonathan Bernier had 17 saves against his former team.

The Avalanche have won three in a row for the first time since March 2016. They won two straight four times last season.

"I'm not sure we won two in a row," coach Jared Bednar said with a laugh. "Did we? I can't remember. It didn't feel like it."

Colorado played most of the game without star center Nathan MacKinnon because of a right eye injury suffered in the first period. MacKinnon was hurt when Anaheim center Derek Grant's stick came up and hit him under the visor.

He was helped off the ice by a trainer and ruled out at the start of the second period. After the game, Bednar said MacKinnon was fine and he expected him to play Saturday in Dallas.

"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 tomorrow."

The immediate status for Anaheim's two injured stars is less clear. Center Ryan Getzlaf was a late scratch with a lower-body injury and goaltender John Gibson left after making 17 saves in the first period.

Coach Randy Carlyle said Gibson suffered an upper-body injury in the warmup but still started.

"He said it was OK and got to the point it wasn't safe, he didn't feel good and said he wasn't good to go," Carlyle said. "He is day to day and so is Getzlaf."

Brandon Montour scored the lone goal for Anaheim and Reto Berra had 19 saves in relief of Gibson.

The Avalanche (4-1) had eight power plays and killed off two penalties but still needed some late heroics to squeak out the win. With Montour off for slashing, Rantanen fed Barrie at the point, and the defenseman's one-timer beat Berra on the glove side at 14:21 of the third.

"I thought our power play was working it around good all night," Barrie said. "Mikko made a good pass up to me and I was just trying to get it on net. I think it might have tipped something. It was a nice feeling seeing that go in."

It was a frustrating night for the Ducks, who struggled to adjust to the tighter slashing rules enacted by the NHL this season.

"We knew going into the year they were cracking down on that," Montour said. "We've just got to watch that. Obviously, I have to fix that as well as the rest of us."

The Ducks (2-2) were in survival mode for the first 42 minutes but were tied 1-1 after Montour scored a short-handed goal at 2:14 of the third. It was just Anaheim's 11th shot and Montour's first of the season.

The Avalanche had five power plays in the first period, including 19 seconds of a five-on-three, but managed just one goal. Landeskog got it on a wraparound at 11:58 of the period to give Colorado a 1-0 lead. It was his second of the season.

The Avalanche had two goals waved for goaltender interference. The first came at 2:02 of the second period and the second occurred midway through the third when rookie Alexander Kerfoot knocked into Berra as J.T. Compher's shot went in.

"Two goals and two calls against us that could have gone either way, that was frustrating, but we stuck with it," Barrie said.

NOTES: Anaheim C Ryan Getzlaf was a late scratch with a lower-body injury. The Ducks said he is day to day. Getzlaf missed the first two games of the season and made his debut Monday against Calgary. He has two assists. ... Avalanche C Tyson Jost was ruled out of Friday's game as well as Saturday in Dallas with a hyperextended left knee. Jost suffered the injury in Wednesday's win over Boston but returned to score an empty-net goal. The knee injury isn't expected to keep him out long term. ... Ducks LW Nick Ritchie returned to the lineup after missing three games with a lower-body injury.