In Detroit, Gabriel Landeskog scored the first last final goals on Wednesday night to help the Colorado Avalanche to a 5-2 win over the Red Wings on Wednesday. 
“This was about finishing off the road trip the right way, with a 3-1 record,” Colorado head coach Jared Bednar said. “We’ve had a lot of travel facing some really good teams, and we’re happy with that record, and now we get to go back home.”
Pavel Francouz made 32 saves in the Avs win.
Former Red Wing, Darren Helm started the game for the Avs.
“That was nice of [Bednar]. I definitely appreciated getting a chance to start with those guys,” Helm said. “It was nice to get one in the net.
“That’s going to be a good team in the future. They’ve taken some major strides this year.”
The Avs improved to 37-10-4.
“That’s a heck of a hockey team, and we had five days off, so there was some rust early on,” Detroit’s Dylan Larkin said. “We were practicing hard, but they were playing games, and games are important.”
After Landeskog opened the scoring, Tyson Jost pushed the lead to 2-0.
“That was huge because we didn’t want to lose two in a row,” Jost said. “That’s what good teams don’t do. We knew we had to respond after how we played against Boston.”
Filip Zadina cut the deficit to one, with a goal for Detroit in the middle frame.
“I didn’t think 2-0 was insurmountable because we know we will get chances to score against that team,” Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill said. “They are just so good in the O-zone and on the rush, even without Nathan MacKinnon. It’s amazing how well they are playing without him.”
Nazem Kadri scored late in the second period for a 3-1 lead to Colorado, Valeri Nichushkin scored early in the third for a 4-1 advantage.
Detroit got one back off a a power play goal from Robby Fabbri in the third.
Thomas Greiss made 26 saves in the Detroit loss.
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