Red Wings Hold Off Avalanche, Win Fourth-Straight

The Detroit Red Wings lost a two-goal lead in the second period Thursday night but fought off the charge by the Colorado Avalanche to earn a 4-2 win. The victory was their fourth in a row, all coming on the road.

Valtteri Filppula scored twice for the second game in a row, giving the Red Wings a 2-0 lead late in the first period.

With 7:04 left in the period, Filppula raced down the right wing and threw a backhander on net. Goalie Peter Budaj made the stop but the rebound deflected off of defender Brett Clark and back into the net.

Just 4:09 later, a long shot by Niklas Kronwall was knocked aside by Budaj at the top of the crease. Filppula was at the side of the net to control the puck, putting it with Budaj still out of position.

The Avalanche countered with 1:23 left in the period, when Cody MacLeod picked off a Brian Rafalski pass at the Detroit blue line, breaking in alone on Dominik Hasek and putting a quick shot past him.

At 5:56 of the second period, Marek Svatos tied the game up. Svatos went uncovered on a Colorado odd-man rush and after Hasek made the initial stop on a chance by Jaroslav Hlinka, Svatos was free to put in the rebound from the slot.

Jiri Hudler scored the go-ahead goal with 9:00 left in the middle frame. Hudler was outmanned carrying the puck down the right wing and waited for Kris Draper to catch up, passing to him. Draper sent it right back to Hudler, calling for a shot. Hudler, who had been looking to pass, snapped a shot over Budaj’s shoulder and into the net.

A strong push by Colorado in the third period wouldn’t be enough to even the game. With 11 seconds left, Mikael Samuelsson added an empty-net goal to wrap things up.

Neither team scored any of their goals on the power play. Detroit had only one chance with the extra attacker while the Avalanche had four.

Hasek stopped 22 of 24 shots against to get the win. Budaj made 25 saves on 28 shots.

The Red Wings will wrap up their season-long five game road trip on Saturday in Phoenix.

---

Playing their second game in as many nights, the Red Wings only lineup changes were Derek Meech in for Chris Chelios on defense and Hasek starting in goal in place of Chris Osgood.