RECAP: Red Wings conclude road swing with 5-2 loss to Avalanche

DENVER -- Playing the second half of a back-to-back set and what was their third road game in four nights, the Detroit Red Wings put forth a solid effort but fell to the Colorado Avalanche, 5-2, at Ball Arena on Tuesday night.

“The League is full of tough nights,” Detroit head coach Todd McLellan said. “Sometimes you get the crappy end of a schedule, but I’m not going to stand here and say, ‘Hey, that’s why we lost.’ We made some mistakes and their good players capitalized. Would we have liked to have fresh tanks? It would have given us maybe a better opportunity, but I’ve been in this building with teams before playing back-to-back and it got pretty ugly quick. Maybe that’s why I feel a little bit better about our effort because I’ve been on the ugly end of some games back-to-back here.”

Goalie Alex Lyon, who entered in relief of netminder Petr Mrazek (undisclosed) in Utah on Monday, made 23 saves for the Red Wings (33-32-6; 72 points). Goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood turned aside 21 shots for the Avalanche (44-25-3; 91 points).

“I think, honestly, we did a lot of good stuff tonight,” said J.T. Compher, who recorded a power-play goal and an assist for his seventh multi-point game of the season. “Penalty kill needs to be a little bit better. It’s about getting two points. Doing good things is not enough at this point. We need to find ways to win games. That’s a good, deep hockey team over there. They capitalized on their chances tonight.”

Six minutes into the first period, Compher, who spent seven seasons (2016-23) with the Avalanche, was waiting up front before he snapped Michael Rasmussen’s pass into the cage during the game’s first man-advantage opportunity to give the Red Wings a 1-0 lead. The secondary assist on Compher’s eighth goal of the season went to Vladimir Tarasenko.

Colorado had a quick response, as Cale Makar scored on a shot from the blue line 44 seconds after Compher’s game-opening goal to tie it 1-1. Then Valeri Nichushkin jammed home a rebound at 12:54 of the first period, putting the hosts ahead 2-1.

“I thought we handled the pressure really well from the start on,” Moritz Seider said. “Even though the first period turned out 2-1, I thought we handled it really well. Created a lot of our chances. Then two, three mistakes and you look at the scoreboard and it’s obviously 3-1, 4-1. It’s hard to get that back against that team.”

Extending the lead for the Avalanche, Devon Toews found some space above the face-off circles and zipped a one-timer past Lyon on the power play to make it 3-1 at 4:39 of the second period. That’s also how the score read at the end of the middle frame, with shots through two in Colorado’s favor, 20-16.097

The Avalanche added another power-play goal at 8:34 of the third period, as Nathan MacKinnon padded it to 4-1 when he buried the rebound of a Jonathan Drouin shot.

“Makar, MacKinnon and a few of the others, when you enter the game you’re obviously concerned because they’re real good players,” McLellan said. “I thought we did a fairly good job of checking them, but they only need one or two free breaks and they make you pay. They certainly did that tonight.”

Austin Watson’s second goal in as many nights cut it to 4-2 at 16:53 of the third period. The assists went to Compher and Simon Edvinsson, who extended his point streak to three consecutive games.

With 2:04 left in the game, Logan O’Connor capped the scoring with an empty-netter.

Just eleven regular-season games remain for the Red Wings, who missed a chance to gain some ground in the race for an Eastern Conference Wild-Card spot on Tuesday, as the New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators all lost in regulation. Entering Wednesday, Detroit remained three points back of Montreal, which has a game in hand, for that second Wild-Card spot.

"We can’t let ourselves down," Seider said. "We can’t look for any excuses. Nobody else is going to come in and help us. This is it. This is the locker room. We have to pull all the strings together here and make it work."

So, despite some recent struggles, the Red Wings know they're still in the playoff hunt.

“The belief is there,” Seider pointed out. “We know we can be a good team. There are stretches where we’ve definitely showed that. We just got to really put it together. Can’t let the other games slip now. Every game is almost a do-or-die. Now, it’s crunch time. Hopefully, we’re ready for it.”

NEXT UP: Detroit will kick off a brief two-game homestand with a key Atlantic Division matchup against the Ottawa Senators at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday night.

POSTGAME QUOTES

McLellan on Lyon starting Tuesday’s game

“I talked myself into playing [Cam] Talbot yesterday and obviously he couldn’t go. There were reasons for doing that -- playing back-to-back at this elevation with last night’s taxing game. I got a lot of respect for that guy. It wasn’t easy. He got tested by a real good hockey club tonight and made some good saves. I’m sure he’s exhausted. He’ll get his rest. He answered the call, and we’re happy for that.”

Compher on the mentality inside Detroit’s dressing room

“We’re fighting. We’re going to fight until there’s nothing left to fight for, and that’s every guy in this room. That’s the mentality that I see and hear between periods. That I hear before and after games. This group wants it really, really bad.”

McLellan on if Detroit executed its plan of turning Colorado’s aggressiveness against them well enough

“I would say the answer is no, but that’s not because we weren’t attempting to do it. They just played well. They were a fresh team. They came home from the road, had a good practice and skated well. Anytime we potentially had a break or chance to get away, they were skating well enough to disrupt. Didn’t get many opportunities, but that’s what good teams do.”

Seider on their commitment level at time of the season

“I thought we did the little things well today. Obviously, not going to stop their first line for 60 minutes but I thought we managed it fairly well. Contained them to the outside, even created when they’re on the ice and just didn’t really capitalize on our chances. That’s something we got to be honest with ourselves. That has to be better.”