Avalanche Pick Up Shootout Win over Red Wings

Colorado Avalanche forward Paul Stastny beat Detroit Red Wings netminder Joey MacDonald in the third round of a shootout Thursday night to give the Avalanche a 3-2 win over the Red Wings in Detroit’s exhibition home opener.

The Red Wings, who utilized a new rule allowing the home team to choose whether to shoot first or second, got a first-round goal from Jiri Hudler. Wojtek Wolski scored for Colorado in the first round before Tomas Holmstrom, Tyler Arnason and Robert Lang were denied.

The Red Wings had opened the scoring with a power play goal from Nicklas Lidstrom in the first period but the Avalanche evened the game with a power play goal of their own in the second.

Hudler put Detroit back out front in the third, scoring on the rebound of a Niklas Kronwall blast, before Brett MacLean stole the puck from Valtteri Filppula and skated in and put a shot over MacDonald’s glove to tie things up.

Chris Osgood started the game in net for Detroit before being relieved to start the third period. Jose Theodore made the start for Colorado and was replaced by Tyler Weiman at the same time.

The Red Wings will be back in action on Friday, when Dominik Hasek is expected to make the first start of his third stint in Detroit as the Tampa Bay Lightning visit Joe Louis Arena.