Red Wings 3, Avalanche 2
DETROIT -- Three different Red Wings scored, and Detroit held off the Colorado Avalanche for a 3-2 win Monday night at Joe Louis Arena.
Colorado trailed 3-0 before scoring twice in the third period, but it couldn't get the equalizer.
Justin Abdelkader, Daniel Cleary, Damien Brunner got the goals for Detroit (18-13-5). Johan Franzen had two assists.
Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard made 22 saves, a number of them outstanding stops, particularly in the third period. He robbed P.A. Parenteau with a glove save with seven seconds left.
The Red Wings bounced back after being trounced 7-1 by the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday afternoon at Joe Louis Arena.
Jamie McGinn and Matt Duchene scored for Colorado (12-19-4), which has lost five of its last six. Semyon Varlamov stopped 10 shots before being pulled in favor of Jean-Sebastien Giguere in the second period. Giguere stopped all seven shots he faced.
Duchene scored with 1:18 left after Giguere was pulled for the extra attacker. He knocked down a clearing attempt by Detroit defenseman Brendan Smith in the slot and beat Howard for his 14th goal.
McGinn's power-play goal 5:52 into the third period put Colorado on the board. He put in a backhander from a goal-mouth scramble for his seventh goal.
Abdelkader opened the scoring with 4:03 left in the first period when he batted the rebound of Franzen's shot out of the air and into the net with the shaft of his stick. It was Abdelkader's seventh goal.
Cleary's power-play goal 6:28 into the second period made it 2-0. He got his eighth goal when he put in a one-timer from the top of the crease.
Brunner scored 9:54 into the second period on a one-time shot from the bottom portion of the left circle after Gustov Nyquist made a nice play to keep the puck in the Colorado zone and gain possession of it in the high slot area. It was Brunner's 11th goal, and it ended his 15-game goal-scoring drought.
Varlamov was pulled and replaced by Giguere after that goal.
NOTE: Detroit center and captain Henrik Zetterberg missed his second game with a groin injury. ... Red Wings defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo returned after missing 33 games with a shoulder injury. ... Detroit forward Mikael Samuelsson didn't play due to an upper- body injury. ... Colorado forward Paul Stastny missed his fourth game with a foot injury. ... Avalanche forward Milan Hejduk didn't play because of a shoulder injury.... Colorado forward David Jones missed his fifth game due to a knee injury. ... Monday night's contest was Red Wings trainer Piet Van Zant's 1,500th game. .. Avalanche defenseman Matt Hunwick and forward Aaron Palushaj are both natives of Detroit-area suburbs and played at the University of Michigan. Hunwick is from Warren and Palushaj is from Livonia.
