Compher, Soderberg score in 3rd as Avs top Wings
DENVER -- J.T. Compher and Carl Soderberg scored goals 1:55 apart early in the third period, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-1 on Wednesday night.
Matt Duchene also scored and Calvin Pickard had 27 saves for the Avalanche (20-46-3).
Andreas Athanasiou had a goal and Jimmy Howard stopped 28 shots in his second start back from the injured list. Detroit (26-31-11) has lost two straight.
Compher gave Colorado the lead when he took a two-line pass from Francois Beauchemin, skated between the circles and beat Howard high at 3:49 of the first.
It was the first career goal for Compher, who made his NHL debut on March 2.
Soderberg made it a two-score game when he scored at 5:44. It was his sixth goal of the season and first in 18 games.
Gabriel Landeskog had a chance to pad the lead when he was awarded a penalty shot at 11:58 but Howard made the save.
Athanasiou used his speed to get past the Colorado defensemen when he took a backhand pass from Just Abdelkader as he skated out of the defensive zone. He went in alone on Pickard, put a move on his and beat him for his 16th goal of the season at 5:09 of the first period.
Duchene tied it at 12:08 of the second with his 17th of the season and first in 12 games. Duchene pumped his arms in visible relief after scoring on Howard.
Defenseman Mark Barberio was robbed twice on separate power plays. Howard slid over to stop him from scoring into a wide-open net early in the second period, and then robbed him with his stick from almost the same angle in the first minute of the third period.
NOTES: Detroit G Jimmy Howard played in his 394th NHL game to tie Mike Dunham for 12th place among United States-born goalies. ... Avalanche D Anton Lindholm made his NHL debut Wednesday. He was Colorado's fifth-round pick in the 2014 draft and played three years for Skelleftea AIK in Sweden before joining the San Antonio Rampage of the AHL where he had two goals and 10 assists in 59 games this season. ... The Red Wings are now 40-29-6 against Colorado since the franchise moved to Denver in 1995.