Eurolanche

Pickard likely in net against Red Wings

Season series: The Colorado Avalanche and Detroit Red Wings each won one game on the road last season. Detroit defeated Colorado 4-2 at Pepsi Center on Oct. 17, and Colorado defeated Detroit 3-2 in overtime on March 6 at Joe Louis Arena. Red Wings forwards Johan Franzen and Pavel Datsyuk each had two goals.

Avalanche team scope: Colorado defeated the Buffalo Sabres 5-1 on Saturday. Goaltender Calvin Pickard made 21 saves in his fifth consecutive start. Coach Patrick Roy announced on Friday that Pickard would start each game this weekend. Center John Mitchell, who returned from a lower-body injury on Saturday, scored and has points in three of his past four games. Defenseman Erik Johnson has four points in his past three games. This is the end of a three-game road trip for Colorado, which is 5-6-5 away from home. "It's two points," forward Alex Tanguay told the Avalanche website after the game. "For us, we see what's going on in front of us in the standings and we're going to need points, and certainly [Sunday] is a big game for us."

Red Wings team scope: Detroit was defeated by the New York Islanders 2-1 on Friday, its season-high fifth straight loss (0-3-2). Goalie Jimmy Howard left the game after the first period with an upper-body injury. Coach Mike Babcock didn't provide any update after the game or on Saturday. Petr Mrazek made 22 saves in relief and could start; he is 3-2-0 with a .922 save percentage and 2.54 goals-against average. The Red Wings recalled goalie Tom McCollum from Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League and assigned defenseman Xavier Oullet.

-by David Satriano for NHL-