What is shaping up as the worst season in Avalanche history still would have been greatly salvaged in many of its fans’ minds with a victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night.
No matter what the final record is, Avs partisans could have said, “Yeah, but at least we swept the season series with the Wings.”
There was no sweep, as Detroit overcame a slow start to beat the Avs 3-2 at a sold-out Pepsi Center. The Avs lost for the sixth straight time, but only for the first time in the fourth and final meeting with Detroit.
The six consecutive losses tied the team record, set from March 30-April 11, 1998.
“I’m kind of numb right now, with everything that’s been happening,” Avs veteran Ian Laperriere said. “Our lows have been low lately. We just didn’t play 60 minutes again tonight. It’s just not good enough. What separated us tonight from the other games we beat them, we gave them too much respect tonight instead of going right at them. If you stand around and watch them too much, you’re going to be a minus-1. The puck’s going to be in the back of your net.”
An early goal by Avs defenseman John-Michael Liles got his team off to a great start. But with 19 seconds left in the first period, it started going badly for Colorado — and mostly stayed that way until the final horn.
“I think the game tonight describes how our year has been,” Avs coach Tony Granato said. “We played a good first period, but in the second period, when they got going, it was probably the only time in the series against them where we stood around for a while and watched them.”
Detroit’s Valtteri Filppula got a late first-period goal.
The second period was in the Avs end for almost the entire 20 minutes, and Detroit was rewarded with goals from Johan Franzen and Kris Draper.
Franzen’s goal came after more sloppy play by the Avs in their own end, starting with Liles’ failure to corral a puck whipping around the dasher, allowing Franzen to grab it and start toward the net. He faked Avs defender Scott Hannan onto his backside before depositing the puck past committed Avs goalie Andrew Raycroft.
“If you respect them too much, they’ll eat you alive,” Granato said. “And that’s what happened in part of that period.”
There was one goal, but otherwise little luck for the Avs in the third. Exhibit A for the latter was, with about six minutes left, Ben Guite had a backhand shot that was stopped at the goal line by a Wings defender, then Adam Foote hit the post on a follow-up.
Milan Hejduk made it 3-2 with 1:41 left, but that was it. Otherwise, the Avs atoned for being outshot 15-4 in the second with a 12-6 advantage in the third.
Avs Recap
The Post’s three stars
1. Johan Franzen.
Avs killer scored another goal against Colorado, making it 2-1 in the second.
2. Kris Draper.
Scored a goal and won 8-of-14 faceoffs.
3. Milan Hejduk.
Veteran winger had another solid showing for the Avs.
What you might have missed
Avs winger Cody McLeod suffered a shoulder injury in the second period and did not return. He’ll be re-evaluated today.
Up next
At Chicago, Sunday at 1 p.m.
Adrian Dater, The Denver Post
