In Detroit Sunday, the Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon finished the Avs’ rally from a 3-1 deficit in the third period, with an overtime goal to defeat the Red Wings, 4-3.
“I saw the short side was open,” MacKinnon said. “I think I surprised him by shooting from that far out.”
The Avs trailed by two goals and forced the extra session with a goal with 46 seconds left in regulation.
“We had great energy, and we were able to overcome a couple early mistakes,” Avs head coach Jared Bednar said. “I’m very happy with this one.”
Erik Johnson and Nail Yakupov scored and Carl Soderberg was credited with the game-tying goal on a deflection.
“We had our top line out there and they just kept creating chances,” Bednar said. “We wanted to get traffic in front and keep getting the puck on the net.”
The win moved the Avs to 10-8-1 on the season as Jonathan Bernier made 21 saves to get the win.
“We knew we could get one if we stuck with our structure,” he said. “We just kept trying to create chances, and I got a lucky bounce. All I had to do was shoot it.”
Justin Abdelkader, Andreas Athanasiou and Niklas Kronwall scored for the Red Wings.
“You can’t give a point away like that,” Athanasiou said. “It’s tough knowing that we had a two-goal lead that late and didn’t get two points.”
[WATCH: All Avalanche vs. Red Wings highlights]
Jimmy Howard made 33 saves in the loss as the Wings fell to 10-8-3.
“We have to be able to close these games out,” Abdelkader said. “We have to be able to play faster than a team on a back-to-back.”
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