Detroit Red Wings lose 6-3 to Colorado Avalanche: Game thread replay

When: 3 p.m. Monday.

Where: Ball Arena in Denver.

TV: Bally Sports Detroit.

Radio: WXYT-FM (97.1; Red Wings radio affiliates).

• Box score

Game notes: The bad blood between the Red Wings and Avalanche is almost completely wiped away these days, even as the franchises’ two biggest stars two decades ago — Steve Yzerman and Joe Sakic — are running their front offices. Still, it’s always an enjoyable rivalry, and the Colorado fans should be agreeably chippy for the matinee.

TRENDING:Detroit Red Wings G Alex Nedeljkovic clears waivers, opens roster spot in Detroit

Just in case the back-to-back Stanley Cups won by the Tampa Bay Lightning (and the back-to-back-to-back conference titles for the Bolts) made us forget, the Avalanche are reminding us how hard it is to repeat as Cup champs. The Avs, who knocked off the Bolts in six games last summer, have yet to rediscover their mojo 41 games into their title defense. With just 45 points, they’re sitting fourth in the Central Division — and six points out of a wild-card spot. 2023 has been particularly rough, with four losses in six games; still, don’t count the Avs out yet, as they steamrolled the Senators at home Saturday, 7-0.

Two of those goals were scored by 26-year-old Mikko Rantanen, giving him 29 this season in 41 games. That topped Avs GM Joe Sakic’s Denver-era franchise record for goals at the halfway point of the season; “Burnaby Joe” had 28 in the Avs’ first season in Colorado after moving from Quebec City en route to 51 as the Avs won the Cup. Rantanen needs just seven more goals to match his career high, set least season as the Avs won their third Cup in Denver.

Part of the change for the Avs has been in the crease, where Alexandar Georgiev and Pavel Francouz have replaced Darcy Kuemper, last season’s Cup winner. (Well, Francouz won six games for the Avs in the leadup up to the Cup final before Kuemper returned from an eye injury.) Keumper is now in Washington, and Georgiev, brought in via trade from the Rangers, is the main man in net, with a .915 save percentage and 2.71 goals-against average in 30 appearances. Francouz has been slightly better, at .919 and 2.57, but just recorded his first shutout of the season, in that win over Ottawa.

The Wings, meanwhile, have no Cup hangover to blame for their middling performance over the past few months. Though, hey, maybe that’s why they looked so bad for two periods against Metropolitan Division cellar dweller Columbus on Saturday after riding high against elite teams from Winnipeg and Toronto? Or maybe it’s just the exchange rate. Just know this: When the Wings score first, as they did against the Jets and Maple Leafs, they’re 10-5-6, but when they give up the first goal (as they did against the Blue Jackets), they’re 8-11-1.

The Wings don’t get much of a rest after today’s early game; they’re due in Tempe, Arizona, for a night game Tuesday against the college-arena-squatting Coyotes, who hopefully have finished the visitor’s locker room by now. The Avs, meanwhile, have Tuesday off before heading to Calgary to start a three-game trip in the Northwest.

RED WINGS MIDSEASON GRADES:Most offseason additions earning their contracts