Red Wings-Avalanche Tweetcap: Colorado humbles Detroit at LCA

The Red Wings’ final three games before the Olympic Break kicked off with a matinee game against the struggling-of-late but still dominant-overall Colorado Avalanche.

Detroit hoped to break an 0-1-and-1 streak as they hosted Colorado in the first half of a home-and-home series; the Avs had lost 4 of their past 5 games heading into Saturday’s affair.

On Saturday afternoon at Little Caesars Arena, the Red Wings celebrated their era of “dominance” at Joe Louis Arena, and then they got trampled on by the Colorado Avalanche, losing 5-0. Nathan MacKinnon had three points, the Avs chased John Gibson, who stopped 13 of 17, after 40 minutes, and the flu-ridden Wings played like a team that needed more Pedialyte.

There are no excuses for going 0-2-and-1 on a 3-game home stand, and this is definitely an inflection point for the team, especially going right back against the Avs in Denver on Monday, and then playing in Utah to wrap up the pre-Olympic schedule…

But the team-wide flu is an explanation as to one of the reasons why the Wings have taken a big, fat belly flop onto the ice of late.

Here’s hoping that the team rebounds at Ball Arena on Monday, because this loss was extremely embarrassing.

PREGAME: John Gibson and Mackenzie Blackwood led their respective teams out onto the ice…

The Avs posted their lineup at 12:54 PM…

And the Red Wings posted their lineup at 12:56:

1ST PERIOD:

The Wings and Avs dressed the following starters and lineups:

GOAL: Off a turnover at the Red Wings’ blueline by Marco Kasper, Nathan MacKinnon chugged through the blueline laterally, pumped the puck to a pinching Brent Burns, and Burns ripped the puck over Gibson top shelf at 6:44.

Colorado 1, Detroit 0: Burns (9) from MacKinnon (51) and Nichushkin (19) at 6:44.

PENALTY: Josh Manson was called for holding Andrew Copp behind the Avs’ net at 7:31 of the 1st period.

GOAL: Nathan MacKinnon took the puck at the Red Wings’ right half boards from Artturi Lehkonen, MacKinnon worked the puck back to the blueline, deked, dangled and fired a shot through a Nichushkin screen to make it 2-0 Avs at 10:03 of the 1st period.

Colorado 2, Detroit 0: MacKinnon (39) from Lehkonen (22) at 10:03 1st.

PENALTY: At 15:45 of the 1st period, Parker Kelly tripped J.T. Compher and sat for tripping.

2ND PERIOD:

GOAL: Ross Colton took a pass from Brock Nelson behind the net and Alex DeBrincat and Ben Chiarot ran into each other, so John Gibson was unable to make a stop and it was suddenly 3-0.

Colorado 3, Detroit 0: Colton (7) from Nelson (20) and Manson (19) at 1:24 2nd period.

PENALTY: Erik Gustafsson tripped Parker Kelly at 2:40 of the 2nd period.

GOAL: Jacob Bernard-Docker blubbed a rim-around as the puck bounced into the slot, sending the puck right to Artturi Lehkonen, and he pushed the puck laterally to Nate MacKinnon, who made it 4-0 in a hurry.

Colorado 4, Detroit 0: MacKinnon (40) from Lehkonen (23) at 13:33 2nd period.

PENALTY: J.T. Compher tripped Kelly at 17:13 of the 2nd period.

Nathan MacKinnon ripped a shot wide of an open net on the PP, too.

PENALTIES: Brock Nelson sits for high-sticking and J.T. Compher sits for roughing at 19:52 of the 2nd period.

3RD PERIOD:

GOALIE CHANGE: Cam Talbot relieved John Gibson, who stopped 13 of 17 shots.

GOAL: Parker Kelly jammed a rebound into the net on the backhand after hitting the goalpost to make it 5-0 Colorado. Both ASP and Gustafsson were nowhere to be found.

Colorado 5, Detroit 0: Kelly (12) from Kiviranta (5) and Drury (11) at 7:35 3rd period.

Statistics: Here are the Game Summary and Event Summary:

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George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, and have worked with MLive and Kukla's Korner. Thank you for reading!