Avs Host Red Wings Looks To Keep Rolling
The official game preview Colorado Avalanche vs Detroit Red Wings.Season series: Jarome Iginla scored in the top half of the ninth round to give the Colorado Avalanche a 2-1 shootout win against the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena on Dec. 21. Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk and Colorado's Erik Johnson each scored in the third period.
Avalanche team scope: Colorado is within four points of the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference after a 3-2 shootout win against the Dallas Stars on Tuesday. It was the Avalanche's second win in a row and third in the past four games, and they are 4-1-3 in the past eight. The Avs trailed 2-0 entering the third period before Ryan O'Reilly and Tyson Barrie scored to tie the game, and Maxime Talbot ended the night with an 11th-round goal on his first NHL shootout attempt.
Defenseman Zach Redmond continues to play in the top pairing alongside Jan Hejda while Johnson recovers from arthroscopic knee surgery. Coach Patrick Roy said that allows him to keep the other two pairings intact.
The Avalanche will host the Red Wings in an NHL Coors Light Stadium Series game next season, Feb. 27, 2016 at Coors Field.
Red Wings team scope: Detroit, which hasn't played since defeating the New York Islanders 4-1 at home on Saturday, is 8-2-0 in its past 10 games and is in a tight race atop the Atlantic Division with the Montreal Canadiens (67 points) and Tampa Bay Lightning (69 points).
Captain Henrik Zetterberg returned to center the top line in practice Wednesday in Denver after staying off the ice for a maintenance day on Tuesday. Coach Mike Babcock said goalie Petr Mrazek will start.
Goalie Jonas Gustavsson, who's been out since Nov. 7 with a shoulder injury, will join the club in Denver. Goalie Jimmy Howard (groin) hopes to return against the Pittsburgh Penguins next Wednesday. Forward Johan Franzen (upper body) didn't practice and remains out indefinitely.
-- by NHL.com --
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05/02/2015 - 16:30
