Alexandar Georgiev made 29 saves to help the Colorado Avalanche defeat the struggling Detroit Red Wings 2-1 on Saturday night. Georgiev had been pulled in his previous game after allowing four goals in less than 12 minutes against the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday, but he bounced back strongly in this game.
Valeri Nichushkin scored his third goal in two games for Colorado, which had lost four of its previous six. Cale Makar added a power-play goal for the Avalanche.
Lucas Raymond scored the lone goal for the Red Wings, who have now lost five games in a row. Ville Husso made 23 saves for Detroit, starting his third consecutive game due to injuries to Cam Talbot and Alex Lyon.
Colorado took the lead just past the halfway point of the first period. Nichushkin had a shot blocked by Ben Chiarot but recovered the puck and scored from the slot, beating Husso on the glove side. Samuel Girard and Casey Mittelstadt assisted on the goal.
Detroit had some chances in the first period, with Jonatan Berggren and Joe Veleno coming close, but they couldn’t score. There were no power plays in the first period, but late in the frame, Makar was called for hooking, which was offset when Tyler Motte was sent to the box for embellishment.
The first power play of the game came early in the second period when Vladimir Tarasenko of Detroit was called for hooking. Makar made the most of the opportunity, firing a shot from near the blue line that beat a screened Husso.
Detroit had their first power play midway through the period when Mikko Rantanen was called for slashing, but they managed only one shot on goal during that time. Raymond got Detroit on the board with 1:47 left in the second period, tipping in a shot from Dylan Larkin for his eighth goal in the last nine games.
The Red Wings pulled their goalie for an extra skater in the final minutes, but Georgiev held strong and didn’t allow the game to go into overtime.
