Alexandar Georgiev bounced back from his worst outing of the season by making 29 saves and the visiting Colorado Avalanche defeated the slumping Detroit Red Wings 2-1 on Saturday night.
Georgiev was pulled from his previous start after giving up four goals in less than 12 minutes against the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday. On Saturday, Valeri Nichushkin scored his third goal in two games for Colorado, which had lost four of its previous six. Cale Makar supplied a power-play marker.
Lucas Raymond scored for the Red Wings, who have lost five straight games. Ville Husso stopped 23 shots. He was making his third consecutive start with Cam Talbot and Alex Lyon sidelined by lower-body injuries.
Colorado got the first goal of the contest just past the midpoint of the first period. Nichushkin had a shot blocked by Ben Chiarot, but he regained the puck and scored from the slot, beating Husso glove side. Samuel Girard and Casey Mittelstadt had assists on the play.
Jonatan Berggren and Joe Veleno had quality chances for Detroit in the first but couldn’t convert.
Neither team had a power play in the opening frame. Makar was called for hooking late in the period, but it was offset when Tyler Motte was also sent to the box for embellishment.
The first power play came early in the second when Detroit’s Vladimir Tarasenko was called for hooking. Makar converted on the opportunity, as his shot from near the blue line zipped past a screened Husso.
The Wings had their first power play about midway through the period when Mikko Rantanen was called for slashing. Detroit managed only one shot on net during those two minutes.
Raymond scored his eighth goal in nine games to get Detroit on the board with 1:47 left in the second. He tipped in a Dylan Larkin shot.
Georgiev was under siege after the Wings pulled their goaltender for an extra skater, but he stood firm and didn’t allow the game to reach overtime.
–Field Level Media
