Colorado Avalanche hold on for 5-4 victory over Detroit Red Wings
Matt Duchene scored twice and had an assist, as Colorado Avalanche held on for a 5-4 victory over the Detroit Red Wings at Pepsi Centre on Monday night.
David Jones notched a goal and two assists, while Kevin Porter also scored for Colorado, who had lost four of their last five games. Peter Budaj made 26 saves and Paul Stastny also added a goal in the win.
An excited Duchene said after the game, "We weren't as sharp on the defensive end as we'd like to be, but we got the win and that's all that matters."
Henrik Zetterberg and Tomas Holmstrom each potted a goal and an assist for Detroit, who had a three-game winning streak halted by the Avalanche. Jimmy Howard was dented for four goals on 10 shots, before being pulled early in the first period. Joey MacDonald,
who was recalled by Detroit earlier in the day, replaced Howard. He shut the door the rest of the way to finish the play-off in net, and turned aside 15-of-16 shots. Jan Mursak and Brian Rafalski also netted a goal each in the loss.
Six goals were scored in the first period alone.
The first one came from Colorado to take a 1-0 lead in the sixth minute. The Red Wings lost control of the puck in front of their own net, and the puck squirted out to Paul Stastny, who flicked it home from the left side for his 16th goal of the season.
The Red Wings got the goal back less than a minute later to tie the game at 1-1. Drew Miller fired a shot from the top of the left circle that was halted, but the rebound fell to Jan Mursak who blasted a shot in the net for his first NHL goal.
After this goal, the Avalanche dominated play and notched the next three goals to put the Red Wings under immense pressure.
The Avalanche scored their second in the ninth minute of the first period to take a 2-1 lead. Duchene took the puck in the neutral zone, skated down the left wing and snapped the puck past the Detroit netminder from a sharp angle.
Duchene told reporters after the game, “We got some opportunities and we jumped on them. When you are able to do that, things go very well.”
Just four minutes later, Colorado gained a two-goal advantage at 3-1. Porter rang a shot on net from the right circle that was going wide, but it deflected off the skate of Red Wings defenseman Jonathan Ericsson and went in.
Duchene was again in the thick of the action, as he gave the Avalanche a 4-1 lead with just six minutes remaining in the first period. On a 2-on-1 beak between Fleischmann and Duchene, Fleischmann slipped a pass from the left to the right where it was one-timed
in by Duchene.
Red Wings coach Mike Babcock expressed his disappointment at the end of the game. He said "It was a disappointing start. We let Howie (Howard) down when we gave up the pucks. We still had every opportunity to win this game and just didn't get it done."
MacDonald took over for Howard in net after the goal with two minutes left in the first. The Red Wings then managed to cut the deficit in half and make it a two-goal game, as Brian Rafalski beat Budaj with a wrist shot from the slot.
Howard, who leads the league with 22 wins, was dejected with his performance. He said, “I don’t want to get pulled. But I’m just going to put it behind me and move on. It’s the only thing you can do.”
The Red Wings blew a 2-on-1 break as a shot went wide and Avalanche transitioned back to the Red Wings end. In the seventh minute of second period, Duchene slapped a pass from the left circle to the front, where Jones went to the backhand and bounced the
puck in for 5-2 lead. This goal turned out to be the game-winner.
“Matty’s line had some good jump. They skated very well,” Avalanche coach Joe Sacco said. “He had some good speed and he was difficult to contain at times.”
Detroit got one back on a power play with 4 and a half minutes left in the second period. Zetterberg veered in a puck that was deflected into the net by Holmstrom to make it a 5-3 game.
The Red Wings got another power play and crept within another goal to make it 5-4, when Holmstrom tallied in the middle of the final period. That made for a nervous few minutes at the end of the game, but the Avalanche held on for the win.
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