Avalanche beat the Red Wings in a nine-round shootout

Colorado saw themselves down with under five minutes remaining in the game but battled back to beat the Red Wings in a shoot out.

By Andrew Grassey Dec 21, 2014, 7:47pm MST

Pregame Notes

Dennis Everberg back in the line up tonight for the Avs as Patrick Bordeleau is out with a leg injury. Honestly, not the worst thing in the world as I think Everberg is a better player to have on the fourth line.
The top three lines remain the same after a successful night in Buffalo.
I am watching this game with my dad who is a Red Wings fan. Always fun to watch these games even though the rivalry isn't the same anymore.

First Period

Just over a minute into the game, Niklas Kronwall got called for a high stick on Nathan Mackinnon. The Avs don't get many decent looks on the power play. There was one from Redmond but at the end of the day, no shots for the Avs and the game remained scoreless.

Just a few seconds after the Wings kill the penalty, John Mitchell gets called for slashing and its the Avs turn to go on the penalty kill. Avalanche kill off the power play. Wings get a couple shots but Avs kept the puck out of the net.

About halfway through the period, Johan Franzen got cross checked by Erik Johnson behind the net and play was stopped. There was no penalty call on Johnson but it didn't look great. Looked like the stick got Franzen right in the lower back and he immediately went down. Franzen returned on his next shift.

Avalanche went back on the penalty kill as Max Talbot got Niklas Kronwall with a high stick. It drew blood as well so its was double minor for the Wings. On the kill, Pickard gloved a Datsyuk wrist shot from about 25 feet away to keep the game scoreless. Outside of that chance, the Avalanche didn't let Detroit get anything going before the period comes to a close.

The first period finishes with the game scoreless and 34 seconds of Tablot's penalty carrying over to the third.

First Period Notes

The Avalanche played a pretty good period for the second game of a back-to-back on the road. The Wings out shot the Avs 10-5 in the period but also had more time on the power play. Would have liked to see some more sustained pressure for the Avalanche offense but wouldn't all of us this season? Overall, not a bad period as was scoreless heading into the second.

Second Period

Wing got one last chance on the power play from Franzen but Pickard made the save and the Avalanche successfully killed another penalty.

Both teams shared chances in the first half of the second period but Wings seemed to control the puck more. Lots of the Avalanche shots came from above the circles and the outside which is never a good thing.

It was not a very exciting period of hockey at the Joe. The second period ends with the game still scoreless.

Second Period Notes

I wish there was more to say about the second but there was really nothing going on. The Avalanche did a good job getting bodies in front of the net to stop shots and second chances towards the net. Offensively, everything was from the outside for Colorado. Honestly can't remember a situation where the Avalanche held the puck in the zone for an extended amount of time and got a couple shots at the net.

Third Period

4:50 into the period, Nate Guenin got called for a trip to put the Wings on the power play.

GOAL: Red Wings scored on the power play as Riley Sheahan tossed a nice pass to Datsyuk in the slot and Datsyuk put it past the blocker of Pickard to give Detroit the lead. Second time in the game that Datsyuk had that look at the cage and you can't give him those kinds of looks multiple times. 1-0 Wings with 15:52 remaining.

Wings gained some momentum after the goal with a few more chances Pickard made a few nice saves to keep the Wings lead at one. The chances went back and fourth for the next few minutes of the game as Duchene rang the pipe on a three on two and Justin Abdelkader wrested a shot towards Pickard that he gloved down.

Detroit got a penalty with 4:25 remaining in the game for interference. Tomas Jurco for interference off a face off in the Avalanche end.

AVALANCHE GOAL: Erik Johnson once again scored for the Avalanche on a one timer to tie up the game just 10 seconds into the power play. The goal was assisted by Tyson Barrie and Gabriel Landeskog. Johnson's fourth goal in as many nights.

Both teams had a couple chances at the end of the game but it went into overtime with the Avalanche picking up another point.

Overtime

Just 30 seconds into overtime, Pickard made a marvelous glove save on Sheahan.

With a couple minutes remaining in OT, Brad Stuart was left wide open in front of the net and slapped one at Mrazek but Mrazek came out and saved the puck. That would have been nice if Stuart could have put that one in against his old team.

The overtime period went by quick without a goal and the game went into a shoot out. Something that the Red Wings dread.

Shootout

Mackinnon led off the shoot out and came in slow and scored on his forehand with a good flip of the puck over the glove of Mrazek. After Datsyuk missed on his opportunity, Duchene came in with some nasty puck handling to get the second goal for the Avs. Things looked good but the Wings weren't done.

Gustav Nyquist went five hole on Pickard to get a goal and then after Tanguay fired the puck wide, Tomas Tatar came towards the net slowly and fired the puck past Pickard to tie the shoot out. Now I will make things easy for you for the next five rounds...

O'Reilly missed.

Sheahan missed.

Landeskog missed.

Franzen missed.

Briere missed.

Kronwall, yes, Kronwall missed.

Mitchell missed.

Zetterberg missed.

Barrie missed.

Jurco missed.

FINALLY, Iginla came in and beat Mrazek five-hole with a nice wrister to give Colorado the lead. Brendan Smith followed with an attempt to keep the Wings alive but Pickard made the save with his leg pad and the Avalanche beat Detroit 2-1 in a shoot out.

Game Notes

The Avalanche got a big two points tonight against Detroit. After falling behind by a goal early in the third, they got a key goal by Erik Johnson on the power play and then got the game to a shoot out where they pulled away with the victory. The Avs have now won two in a row and have picked up points in their last five games. Still some concerns with Colorado being outshot 35-23 and the top lines not really performing well but a win is a win.

Three Stars

3. Jerome Iginla - I will give Iginla a star for stepping up and getting the big goal in the shoot out. Avs needed that goal and he delivered.

2. Erik Johnson - Johnson has been the star of this team the past few games, if not the season. Another big goal from him today to tie the game in the third.

1. Calvin Pickard - There isn't much more to say. Pickard is the reason the Avalanche are winning games right now. If I am Roy, I start him on Tuesday. Why not give Varlamov the extra time to rest the hamstring injury with the Christmas break ahead and start Pickard?

Next Up

The Avalanche look to get back to the .500 mark and continue their win streak against the Blues on Tuesday at home. The game is a 8 p.m. ET.