It was hard to tell what showed more on ‘s face.
Relief or satisfaction.
At 12:08 of the second period Wednesday night, Duchene scored for the first time in 12 games, pulling Colorado into a 1-1 tie and jump-starting the Avalanche in what turned out to be a 3-1 win over the at the . The goal was Duchene’s elusive, but still team-leading, 17th of the season.
“That’s the worst slump I’ve ever been in in my life,” Duchene said. “It was just insane, so it was nice to pick that one up tonight. I think everybody could tell by my reaction how relieved I was. I don’t know if I’ve ever scored a goal that felt better than that one.”
In the third period, Avalanche rookie forward J.T. Compher, who a year ago was captain of the University of Michigan Wolverines, put Colorado up 2-1 with his first NHL goal from the slot at 3:49.
“It was good to get the lead and nice to get the first one out of the way,” Compher said.
Then Carl Soderberg beat Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard to make it 3-1 at 5:44, giving the Swedish center his first goal since Feb. 4.
The Avalanche went on to the victory that made it 20-46-3 for the season, snapped Colorado’s latest losing streak at two games and also gave it three wins in its last five.
The transplants-in-the-seats phenomenon is an old one in Denver pro sports, and even in the Avalanche-Red Wings rivalry. But the major change is that Avalanche fans’ apathy or disillusionment seems to have made it easier for Red Wings partisans to obtain tickets — even in prime season-ticket areas — and take in what became their favorite team’s single appearance in Denver each season after the Red Wings’ 2013 move to the Eastern Conference.
The ratio of red-clad fans in the Denver arena Wednesday was unprecedented and stunning, numbering perhaps half the fans in the announced crowd of 16,764. That was the case despite the fact the Red Wings aren’t having anything close to a banner season, either, and their 25-season playoff streak is about to come to an end.
Said Colorado coach : “There were a lot of red jerseys in the stands tonight, so it’s kind of interesting. But I thought in the third period especially when we got going, I have to say our fans were incredible tonight. We just have to give them something to cheer about and they’re sticking behind us. That was great energy in the building, an exciting game.”
Duchene, an Avalanche fan during the most heated days of the rivalry, is in his eighth season.
“The rivalry’s dying down a little bit from even my first couple of years, just because we don’t see them any more,” Duchene said. “Twice a year. I don’t even know what game number this is (69), and we hadn’t even seen them yet. But it was like half and half fans out there, and the fans were into it and it was a great atmosphere. It was probably the loudest crowd we’ve had all year.”
Center Andreas Athanasiou beat Avalanche goalie on a breakway to give the Red Wings a 1-0 lead only 5:09 into the game before the Avalanche came back, starting with Duchene’s goal.
“We had a good grind shift,” Duchene said. “() didn’t get an assist on it, but he created the whole play. He won a battle in the corner and threw it to ‘Toots’ (). It wasn’t a big slap shot, Toots just took a nice wrister on the ice, I tipped it and Gabe (Landeskog) tipped it back to me and I thought I could get it on net and just found a hole.”
Compher’s first goal came in his eighth game since his recall from San Antonio.
“It was a nice play by () getting me the puck up by the blue line,” he said. “Then my linemates both drove the next, giving me the opportunity to walk into the slot and it felt pretty good.”
Pickard had a solid game in the Colorado net, finishing with 27 saves.
The teams meet again Saturday in Colorado’s final game in Joe Louis Arena.
