Postgame: Avalanche @ Red Wings – 11/8

That’s two solid games in a row for the Red Wings. Not earth-shattering but definitely a good sign.

Detroit’s top players continue to get going. Lidstrom with another goal, Franzen with the hat trick (one of which could easily have gone to Filppula), and Cleary turned a Datsyuk shot into a goal.

Even Ericsson, who I thought was pretty awful overall, had one real nice play where he broke into the Colorado zone and carried the puck in behind the net to get Hudler a chance. Hudler choked on it, which is some kind of karma for Ericsson, but it was close.

Howard wasn’t tested much but I wouldn’t put either goal squarely on him. The first shouldn’t have happened at all (I don’t care if he was pushed in or not, I just think it’s impossible that the ref saw the puck so he should have blown it dead). On the second one, the puck should have been cleared away by White. Unfortunate for Howard but not the end of the world when the offense is making up for it.

Aside from the part of the second period after Colorado’s first goal, the Red Wings did a good job of controlling the pace of the game. That’s important as they come out of this slump and not easy against a fast team like the Avalanche.