Varlamov, Avalanche Edge Red Wings, 3-2, In Shootout
NOAH TRISTER, AP Sports Writer
DETROIT (AP) — Semyon Varlamov made 43 saves and Blake Comeau scored in both the third period and the shootout to lift the Colorado Avalanche to a 3-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Friday night.
Matt Duchene also scored for the Avalanche, who won despite being outshot 45-21. Colorado has won nine of its last 12 road games.
Jonathan Ericsson and Pavel Datsyuk scored for Detroit, which had its three-game winning streak snapped.
The Avalanche, who won at Ottawa on Thursday, improved to 6-2 on the season in the second game of a back-to-back. The shootout went four rounds, and Comeau ended it by beating Petr Mrazek with a wrist shot to the glove side.
Datsyuk scored Detroit's only goal of the shootout. Varlamov denied Dylan Larkin, Brad Richards and Gustav Nyquist.
Nathan MacKinnon scored Colorado's first goal of the shootout on the third attempt by the Avalanche — Detroit would have won if Mrazek had stopped him.
Duchene opened the scoring in the first after the Red Wings were sloppy with the puck in their own zone. Colorado's Mikhail Grigorenko backhanded a pass to Duchene, who scored from near the edge of the crease.
Detroit evened it up in the second when Ericsson's wrist shot from the point deflected off Duchene and then skipped off the ice surface and past Varlamov.
Comeau put Colorado ahead in the third with a shot from the slot, but the Red Wings answered on a power play when Datsyuk backhanded the puck past Varlamov from in close with 10:09 remaining in regulation.
The Avalanche had 25 blocked shots to Detroit's four, underscoring just how much of the game was played in Colorado's zone, but the Red Wings came away with just the one point for the shootout loss. Nyquist had a great chance in overtime when he swooped in alone on Varlamov, but his backhander was stopped.
NOTE: Detroit D Mike Green returned after missing two games with a sore groin, and D Danny DeKeyser played after leaving Detroit's 3-1 win against Ottawa on Wednesday midway through the third period because of a bruised right leg. ... The Red Wings were short-handed for the final 92 seconds of overtime, but managed to kill the penalty.
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