Detroit – Behind the closed dressing room door Sunday night at Joe Louis Arena, Colorado coach Joel Quenneville had two heartfelt messages for the Avalanche.
1. Bad game in Detroit.
2. Good luck in Turin.
In the final NHL game before nine members of the Avalanche’s active roster head to Italy to play on seven teams in the Winter Olympics, and the rest take a break, Colorado again looked overmatched against the Detroit Red Wings, this time falling 6-3.
The Red Wings, who had 38 shots on beleaguered Colorado goalie David Aebischer and got a goal and two assists from Pavel Datsyuk, swept the four-game regular-season series between the teams in a rivalry that has been toned down a notch.
“That’s the type of team where we have to play a perfect game from start to finish,” Quenneville said. “We didn’t.”
Still, Quenneville said he took solace in the fact that the Avalanche won three of its final four games before the break, beating Edmonton, Minnesota and Columbus before coming to Detroit.
“It’s a 23-game stretch run we’ll be excited about playing,” he said of the post-Olympic schedule, which begins Feb. 28 at home against Minnesota. “I just mentioned to the guys that it’s going to be a fun experience (in Turin) and I wished them the best of luck. And I would hope somebody in our room comes home with a gold medal.”
Sunday, even when Colorado had leads of 2-0 and then 3-2 midway through the second period, that largely was because of Aebischer’s work on what often amounted to an island – and not just his crease. He faced 20 shots alone in the first period, and the Avalanche had the lead on the strength of goals from Patrice Brisebois and Czech Republic team member Milan Hejduk.
The Wings roared back on scores from two members of Sweden’s team. Tomas Holmstrom’s power- play goal at 4:43 of the third period gave the Detroit a 4-3 lead, and Henrik Zetterberg gave the Wings a two-goal edge at 8:06.
Finally, Brendan Shanahan’s empty-netter made it a rout and sent the Detroit fans headed for the People Mover, their cars or maybe even to one of the nearby shops selling Super Bowl XL souvenirs at clearance prices.
“They’ve got a good hockey team,” understated Avalanche captain Joe Sakic, who also will wear the “C” for Canada in Turin. “They move the puck around so well, and if we meet them in the playoffs, we’ll have to play better. We know we have to play a lot better against them, especially in the neutral zone, where they get all their speed. They ended up catching us standing around. That’s the way it’s been this year with them.”
The Wings go into the break with the NHL’s top record overall, with 83 points. So it’s not as if the Avalanche is alone in its frustration against Detroit this season, but it’s also the first time either team has swept the regular-season series since the Quebec Nordiques moved to Denver in 1995.
“We didn’t play as well as we did the last couple of games,” said Aebischer, who will play for Switzerland in the Olympics. “In the first period, we were lucky to be up 2-1. I think we weren’t as sharp. I think we would have had a really good chance to win tonight if we had played at our level.”
Said winger Ian Laperriere: “Obviously, we have some work to do to beat these guys. But when you look back at our last week, we did some good things. Detroit has a heck of a team, but next time we see them, we’ll adjust.”
The problem is that next time either would be in the postseason – or next season. And the way the four games went, the Avalanche looked overmatched.
“We ran around,” Hejduk said. “It was kind of frustrating. Before the Olympics, we wanted to take care of business here. But they had a lot of chances, and Abby is the only thing that kept us in the game.”
Staff writer Terry Frei can be reached at 303-820-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com.
