MacKinnon wins it for Avs in overtime

Mike Green #25 of the Detroit Red Wings skates away as Carl Soderberg #34 of the Colorado Avalanche celebrates his third period tying goal with teammates during an NHL game at Little Caesars Arena on November 19, 2017 in Detroit, Michigan. The Avalanche defeated the Red Wings 4-3 in overtime. (Photo by Dave Reginek/NHLI via Getty Images)

Nathan MacKinnon took the role of hero to end Detroit’s winning streak at Little Caesars Arena Sunday night. The young gun took off with an overtime breakaway scoring three unanswered by the Colorado Avalanche that beat the Red Wings 4-3. Intensity ran with the Avs from start to finish that allowed them leverage to complete the comeback.

Danny DeKeyser who hasn’t played a game since Oct. 10 returned to the lineup in order to help the backline do work once more. Detroit held a two-game winning streak since defeating the Buffalo Sabres Friday. The Avalanche have lost four of their last five including a beating they took against the Predators Saturday night. The tough road trip was something they needed to remedy and with their rivalry with the Red Wings; getting the chance to come alive, they had a chance to make something happen.

They had the edge on Detroit early when it came to shots on net but netminder Jimmy Howard made the solid stops. The Red Wings began to show signs of warming up with some of their key players taking it to goaltender Jonathan Bernier. A scoring chance that whipped off the stick of Dylan Larkin that was redirected by Justin Abdelkader giving the Muskegon native his fourth. Colorado gained a chance to level the score with a power play but the Red Wings pulled off the penalty kill to stay ahead and take time off the clock with clearing the puck out of danger.

The final two minutes saw the Avalanche taking their shots getting one on Eric Johnsons drive from the blue line at center with 15 seconds left. The puck flew right down the line getting through the five-hole for his first of the season. It was the 12^th shot that they took indicating that Detroit had to put a stop to it and turn up the intensity.

Colorado took that role and fired away in the Detroit zone looking to take control of the score and then some. They had another power play in the period which only got better as they had a 5 on 3 chance against the Red Wings. Detroit killed it off but they still had issues to deal with while another man advantage to the Avalanche. All the work while shorthanded helped out Detroit in the shape of a power play that they wanted to produce a goal from.

While their first didn’t go to plan, it gave them the edge they needed to be the powerful squad on the ice. Detroit increased the shots on Bernier looking to make good things happen. In the final minute of play, a good turnover in their zone by Tomas Tatar gave the Red Wings a breakaway chance. Andreas Athanasiou was at the point of the run and got one on one with Bernier to score the leading goal, notching his fifth of the year. They still only got seven shots in the period show consistency but the score in favor of Detroit left them with 20 minutes to hold off the Avalanche and maintain their winning streak.

The Red Wings had time on the penalty clock but didn’t convert on their second opportunity. They returned to even strength where there was a lot of time for Colorado to make something happen and mistakes to avoid for Detroit. They handed the Avalanche another man advantage that couldn’t be avoided. They took care of playing man to man defense and gain back momentum.

The power plays were still coming to Detroit and vying to grow the margin, they made it happen on their third chance. The Red Wings were deep near the Colorado crease trying to get one behind Bernier. When it didn’t work, they sent it back to Niklas Kronwall who fired the one-timer scoring his first of the season. The drive deflected off Colorado’s Matt Nieto and another defender to get through. Detroit had a lead on shots to the net showing that their push to take control of the puck would put them in a good place.

A sixth opportunity for the Avalanche came with 6:29 left in regulation where it didn’t take them too long to make it a 3-2 game. A few passes of the puck ended with Nail Yakupov with an open window to rip the shot to Howard’s left for his sixth on the year. Detroit dodged a bullet with Howard down and out of the net leaving the Avalanche with a great chance to tie the game. Mike Green and Kronwall got in net ready to block a shot while Gustav Nyquist helped get the puck away from a scoring chance.

They spent the rest of the time left in the game keeping the puck out of their zone but it wasn’t easy. The Avalanche were still finding shots on goal but time was running out for them to force the game deeper. At 1:51, Bernier left the ice to bring on a sixth attacker nailing their 32^nd shot on net. Colorado was getting very closer with Detroit doing everything to stop everything thrown at them. With 45.2 seconds, they did it with plenty of rush that had Detroit fatigued. It was just enough to give Carl Soderberg his third to force overtime. They took six shots in the final two minutes that gave them a heavy chance at upsetting Detroit with five more minutes to play.

The Avalanche continued to show their surging strength on offense having scored two unanswered to get into position. They waited for their moment to strike making every shot count when going at Howard. Just before the third minute elapsed MacKinnon ran the puck on a rebound to go in, set up his shot and wrist one catching Howard off the mark ending the night with his seventh of the season.

It was the first loss by Howard in three games as he finished with 33 saves on the night with a .892 save percentage. Bernier got his third win of the season making 24 saves against Detroit for a .875 save percentage. While they try to build on the win to end the week, Detroit would take two nights off before hosting the Edmonton Oilers Wednesday night.