When: 1 p.m. Saturday.
Where: Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
TV: Bally Sports Detroit.
Radio: WXYT-FM (97.1; Red Wings radio affiliates).
• Box score
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Game notes: Turns out it’s pretty hard defending a Stanley Cup. (We kinda forgot after seeing Tampa Bay roll into the Cup Finals for three straight seasons.) The Avs are finally rounding into form after struggling for the first half of the season with 11 wins in their past 15 games, including four straight (three of which have come against the Eastern Conference’s Canadian contingent).
Colorado, so balanced last season, is slightly less so in 2022-23, wth two players — Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen — over 80 points and no others with more than 60. (Though we’ll give all-everything defenseman Cale Makar a pass, since he hands out so many passes of his own, with 42 — that’s an average of 0.78 assists per game.) Rantanen has 45 goals, MacKinnon 29 and Artturi Lehkonen (20) is the only Av with more than 15 scores.
Luckily for the Avs, they have Alexandar Georgiev in the crease. In his first season replacing Cup-winner Darcy Kuemper, Georgiev has stopped 91.6% of the shots against with a 2.61 goals-against average and 30 wins in 49 appearances. (This will be his first time facing the Wings this season, as he sat out the Avs’ victory in January.)
The Wings, meanwhile, are just 2-4 since dealing a significant portion of their roster at the trade deadline in early March, though both the wins came at Little Caesars Arena. In fact, the Wings have outscored their foes at LCA, 100-97, while getting outscored, 119-98, on the road. Maybe it’s the Crazy Bread?
After Saturday’s matinee, the Wings get another home game as the Florida Panthers come to town on Monday before a home-and-home against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday and Thursday. The Avs, meanwhile, finally return to the Rocky Mountains for a Monday visit from the Chicago Blackhawks.
Follow live updates from Saturday’s game below.
Red Wings fans: Listen to this week’s episode of the “Carlos and Shawn” podcast, embedded below. It features our Red Wings reporter Helene St. James, and examines the team’s recent losses and challenges during their playoff push. Catch “Carlos and Shawn” every Thursday morning at 5 and on demand on freep.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings game score vs. Colorado Avalanche: Time, TV
