DENVER — The Detroit Red Wings had to scramble to fill their lineup as they faced one of the elite teams in the NHL.
Their attempt to finish a challenging trip with a celebration wasn’t to be; though they scored first Tuesday at Ball Arena, the Colorado Avalanche were simply too fast, too skilled and too good. The Wings were bounced, 5-2.
That left the Wings (33-32-6) with two points from the three-game trip, their only success coming the previous night at Utah Hockey Club. The Wings have lost 10 of their last 13 games, and have just 11 games left to climb over four teams into the playoff picture.
Alex Lyon (23 saves) was called upon to start a second straight game. J.T. Compher scored the game’s first goal, but after that came an avalanche of goals. There was 3:07 left to play when recent call-up Austin Watson scored for the second time in two nights. That got the Wings within two goals, close enough to warrant pulling Lyon with around 2:30 to play; Logan O’Connor scored into the empty net with two minutes to play.
Patching the lineup
Sebastian Cossa arrived in Denver in the afternoon, flying in directly from Grand Rapids as the Wings needed a backup when Cam Talbot (who had been slated to start) became unavailable for undisclosed reasons. Up front, Elmer Söderblom, who scored Monday in Utah, re-aggravated his injury and was unable to play. That meant Jonatan Berggren was back in the lineup after being a healthy scratch in Utah. On the back end, it wasn’t deemed prudent to play 37-year-old Jeff Petry on back-to-back nights as he had just returned from a two-and-a-half month injury layoff. That left William Lagesson to enter the lineup for the second time in three games.
Need a break?
Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
EXCITING PROSPECT: Red Wings call up goaltender Sebastian Cossa under emergency conditions
Short-lived lead
The Wings went on a power play 4:20 into the game, and converted at the 6-minute mark. Vladimir Tarasenko skated the puck in the boards and sent a pass down low for Michael Rasmussen. His attempt to send the puck out front bounced off an Avs player, but Compher was right there in the slot to drill the puck past Mackenzie Blackwood. It was a short-lived momentum bump, however, as Cale Makar fired a shot from the blue line that hit Moritz Seider en route into Detroit’s net 44 seconds later. Valeri Nichushkin furthered the damage at 12:54, finishing Nathan MacKinnon’s hard work in driving the puck around the net and out front.
Deficit grows
The task grew harder for the Wings early in the second period. Their penalty kill – which had succeeded on four of five penalties the previous night – gave up another one while Craig Smith was off for high-sticking Makar. Devon Toews drifted to the top of the right circle, in position to one-time a feed from Martin Necas at 4:39 to put the Wings down by a pair of goals.
Contact Helene St. James at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her latest book, “The Franchise: Detroit Red Wings, A Curated History of the Red Wings,” was released October 2024. Her books, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” and “The Big 50: The Men and Moments that made the Detroit Red Wings” are available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.
