Red Wings 3, Avalanche 2: Damien Brunner scored to snap a 15-game goalless drought and Jimmy Howard turned aside 22 shots as Detroit rebounded from a lopsided loss to extend Colorado's road winless streak to 12 contests (0-9-3).
Justin Abdelkader and Daniel Cleary added goals and Johan Franzen notched a pair of assists for the Red Wings, who suffered a 7-1 setback to Original Six-rival Chicago on Sunday.
Jamie McGinn scored a power-play goal and Matt Duchene trimmed the deficit to 3-2 with 1:18 remaining in the third period. Jean-Sebastien Giguere made seven saves in relief of Semyon Varlamov (three goals, 13 shots) for the Avalanche, who fell for the ninth time in 11 outings and are a league-worst 2-13-3 away from home.
After Abdelkader's deflection opened the scoring with 4:03 remaining in the first period, Cleary doubled the advantage 6:28 into the second by one-timing Franzen's centering feed past Varlamov. Brunner scored nearly 3 1/2 minutes later, blasting a shot from the lower edge of the left faceoff circle.
Howard atoned for his early exit on Sunday by keeping Colorado off the board until McGinn scored 5:52 into the third period. After Duchene tallied from in close, Howard preserved the win by denying PA Parenteau from point-blank range in the waning moments.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Brunner had been held without a goal since scoring twice in Detroit's 8-3 victory over Vancouver on Feb. 24. ... Colorado last recorded a road victory on Feb. 14 - a 4-3 shootout win over Minnesota. ... Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg missed the game with a lower-body injury, while RW Mikael Samuelsson sat out with an upper-body ailment.
Colorado | Detroit | |
Matt Duchene 1 | Points | Johan Franzen 2 |
Matt Duchene 1 | Goals | Justin Abdelkader 1 |
Cody McLeod 1 | Assists | Johan Franzen 2 |
Jamie McGinn 1 | Power Play Goals | Daniel Cleary 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Jean-Sebastien Giguere 1.000 | Save Percentage | Jimmy Howard .917 |
Semyon Varlamov 10 | Saves | Jimmy Howard 22 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Colorado | 24 | 2 | 1-3 | 1-2 | 4 | 29 |
Detroit | 20 | 3 | 1-2 | 2-3 | 6 | 25 |