The Colorado Avalanche beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-0 at Ball Arena on Saturday behind a four-point night from Martin Necas, who scored twice and added two assists. Mackenzie Blackwood stopped all 27 shots he faced to secure the shutout.
Colorado broke the game open with two second-period goals before adding two more in the third. The Red Wings fired 29 shots at Blackwood but none found the back of the net. Daniil Tarasov stopped 25 of 29 shots in the Detroit net.
Takeaways From Avalanche’s Win Over Red Wings
Necas delivers a four-point game
Martin Necas scored on a snap shot 9:46 into the second period, then batted in a rebound midway through the third to finish with two goals. He also assisted on Nathan MacKinnon’s second-period slap shot and on Cale Makar’s third-period wrister, giving him four points on the night and making him the game’s leading scorer in goals, assists and points.
Power play carries the offense
Colorado converted three of five power-play chances for a 60% success rate, while Detroit went 0 for 3 with the man advantage. The Avalanche also won 28 of 43 faceoffs for a 65.1% win rate, giving their skaters more offensive-zone time to generate the extra pressure that produced the power-play goals.
Blackwood posts a perfect night
Mackenzie Blackwood turned away every shot he saw, finishing with a 1.000 save percentage on 27 shots for his shutout. Detroit outhit Colorado 24-20 and out-blocked the Avalanche 19-13, but physical pressure never translated into pucks past Blackwood.
Player Of The Game: Martin Necas
Necas finished with two goals, two assists and four points, the top total for either team. His second-period snap shot opened the scoring, and his third-period rebound goal pushed the lead to 3-0 before Makar’s power-play marker closed out the scoring.
Avalanche Vs. Red Wings By The Numbers
Colorado out-shot Detroit 29-27 despite the lopsided final score. The Avalanche’s 65.1% faceoff win rate dwarfed Detroit’s 34.9%, a gap that helped Colorado control zone time for most of the night. Colorado’s power play finished 3 for 5 compared to Detroit going 0 for 3, the clearest statistical difference in the game.
Detroit committed 22 giveaways to Colorado’s 17, adding to the Red Wings’ puck-management problems. Cale Makar logged 22:43 of ice time and scored on a third-period power play to go with two assists.
What It Means
The win pushed Colorado to 10-6-2 on the season, keeping the Avalanche within striking distance of Minnesota atop the Central Division, which sits at 28 points. Detroit fell to 7-8-3 and remains last in the Atlantic Division at 17 points. Colorado also took a 1-0 lead in the season series between the two teams.
What’s Next
Detroit plays next on the road as it seeks to bounce back from the shutout. Colorado stays home to continue its push toward Minnesota in the Central Division.
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