DENVER — Roughly 24 hours after their first-ever victory in Salt Lake City, the Detroit Red Wings will try to carry over that winning energy into Ball Arena, where they’ll go up against the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night.
Detroit (33-31-6; 72 points) and Colorado (43-25-3; 89 points) will drop the puck for their season series finale at 7 p.m. MT/9 p.m. ET, with broadcast coverage on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit and the Red Wings Radio Network (97.1 The Ticket in Detroit). Last time these clubs met, the Red Wings fell, 2-1, at Little Caesars Arena on Dec. 7.
“You got to play with a chip on your shoulder all the time and with urgency in this League,” goalie Alex Lyon said after Detroit’s 5-1 win over the Utah Hockey Club at Delta Center on Monday. “You got to play fearless. We got to continue that mentality, and [Tuesday] is going to be a big test. We just have to be ready to go.”
Lyon came in cold but didn’t back down from the challenge in Utah, making 16 saves in relief after fellow netminder Petr Mrazek exited with an undisclosed injury less than two minutes into the first period.
“Alex did a real good job coming into a difficult situation a minute into the game when you certainly don’t expect it,” Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan said. “The first shot goes by him and now it’s, ‘Okay, what are we going to get?’ but he really settled in and had a good game.”
Looking to end this two-part, four-game road trip with four of a possible eight points, Detroit went into Tuesday three points behind the Montreal Canadiens, who have one game in hand, for the Eastern Conference’s second Wild-Card spot.
Austin Watson, who scored his first goal with the Red Wings on Monday, said he believes their win in Utah could serve as a spark for something bigger as this season’s final stretch continues.
“Anything you can use as momentum this time of year, you’ll use and cling to it a little bit,” Watson said. “I think if we take anything, it’s that there’s different ways to win games. Some look different than others but tonight was just an example of sticking to it, doing a little bit of the dirty work and finding a way to get two points.”
McLellan told the media in Utah that the plan is for goalie Cam Talbot to start against the Avalanche, who are ranked third in the Western Conference’s Central Division. With an 8-1-1 record in its last 10 games, Colorado is coming off a 5-4 shootout win over Montreal on Saturday.
Leading the NHL in points (105) and assists (77) is Nathan MacKinnon, who is making a strong case for his second career Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player. The Avalanche are also receiving key offensive contributions from Cale Makar (26 goals, 55 assists) as well as pre-2025 NHL Trade Deadline additions Martin Necas (8-12—20 in 22 games with Colorado) and Brock Nelson (3-3—6 in eight games with Colorado).
Goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood has played 49 contests this season, going 25-17-6 with a 2.52 GAA, .914 SV% and three shutouts.
“We’re not going to spend a lot of time looking at video and that type of stuff [from Monday’s game],” McLellan said. “We’ll move on and get ready for a tough team [on Tuesday].”
