On Saturday night, the visiting Colorado Avalanche defeated the struggling Detroit Red Wings 2-1, and Alexandar Georgiev recovered from his worst performance of the season by recording 29 saves. Georgiev gave up four goals in less than 12 minutes against the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday, which resulted to his removal from his last start. Colorado had dropped four of its last six games until Valeri Nichushkin scored his third goal in two games on Saturday. A power-play marker was provided by Cale Makar. The Red Wings, who have dropped their last five games, scored a goal through Lucas Raymond. 23 shots were stopped by Ville Husso. With Cam Talbot and Alex Lyon out due to lower-body injuries, he was starting for the third time in a row.
Just around the halfway point of the first session, Colorado scored the game’s first goal. Ben Chiarot blocked a shot from Nichushkin, but he got the puck back and beat Husso glove side to score from the slot. Casey Mittelstadt and Samuel Girard provided assists during the play. In the first, Joe Veleno and Jonatan Berggren had good opportunities for Detroit but were unable to convert. In the first frame, neither side used a power play. Tyler Motte was also sent to the box for embellishment, which counterbalanced Makar’s late-period hooking call. When Detroit’s Vladimir Tarasenko was called for hooking early in the second, it was the first power play. Makar took advantage of the situation, as his close-range shot.
About halfway through the period, Mikko Rantanen was called for slashing, which constituted the Wings’ first power play. In those two minutes, Detroit only mustered one shot on goal. With 1:47 remaining in the second, Raymond gave Detroit the lead with his ninth goal in nine games. A Dylan Larkin shot was tipped in by him. The Wings pulled their goalie for an extra skater, and Georgiev was under pressure, but he held his ground and prevented overtime.
