Avalanche at Red Wings
The Detroit Red Wings get a chance to avenge a defeat from three days ago when they play the second half of a home-and-home series against the visiting Colorado Avalanche on Saturday afternoon. While Colorado has been off since its 3-1 win over Detroit on Wednesday, the Red Wings return home off a 3-2 shootout win 24 hours later at Arizona.
Avalanche coach Jared Bednar made note of the large contingent of Detroit fans in the Mile High City earlier in the week for a pair of last-place teams that once combined for five Stanley Cup titles over seven seasons (1996-2002). “The rivalry’s dying down a little bit from even my first couple of years, just because we don’t see them any more,” Colorado center Matt Duchene said. Wednesday's loss ended a nine-game point streak (6-0-3) against the Avalanche for the Red Wings, who are perfect in one regard despite occupying the Atlantic Division basement. Detroit is a perfect 8-0 in shootouts but is 13 points out of the second wild card as it moves closer to the end of a remarkable streak of 25 straight postseason appearances.
TV: 1 p.m. ET, Altitude (Colorado), FSN Detroit
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (20-46-3): Duchene halted what he termed the "worst slump" of his career with a goal against Detroit on Wednesday, ending an 11-game drought with his team-high 17th tally. "For a guy like Matt, we know his history, he scores in bunches," Bednar said. "He scores, he gets confidence, he wants the puck, he wants to be on the ice. ... So that’s a good sign for him and I think our team knows that too.” Duchene has collected nine goals and 18 points in 22 games versus Detroit.
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (27-31-11): Detroit's power play has been wretched throughout the season but converted on 2 of 7 chances at Arizona to inch past Colorado -- 13.1 percent compared to 13.0 -- as the worst unit in the league. Andreas Athanasiou scored against Colorado before assisting on power-play tallies by Dylan Larkin and Tomas Tatar against the Coyotes. "I think playing with a guy like Andreas is huge," Larkin said. "It makes myself as a centerman worry less about how we're going to get up the ice."
OVERTIME
1. Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg needs one goal to eclipse Norm Ullman (324) for sole possession of sixth on the franchise's all-time list.
2. Avalanche G Calvin Pickard has yielded two goals in winning both career starts versus the Red Wings.
3. Detroit has snuffed out 12 of 13 short-handed situations over the past five games.