DETROIT — The Colorado Avalanche are the best team in the NHL in terms of points and win percentage.
They looked the part Wednesday at Little Caesars Arena in a 5-2 victory over the Red Wings.
The Avalanche scored on the game's first shift, then controlled most of the evening, as they raised their record to an NHL-best 37-10-4.
Filip Zadina and Robby Fabbri (power play) had goals for the Red Wings (23-23-6), playing their first game in six days.
Maybe the Wings had an inkling this would be a difficult matchup not just because of the Avalanche's roster.
Colorado was coming off, arguably, one of their worst games of the season in Monday's 5-1 loss in Boston, so the Wings were facing a talented Avalanche team that was also pretty disappointed with itself.
"Last time we played them it felt like they were shot out of a cannon every time they were coming up the ice,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said after the morning skate, remembering a the December defeat in Denver.
“They can play a really fast game. They’re good on their breakout, they're are a possession-type team in terms of breaking out with possession and getting into the other zone with possession. They’re very good on the line rush, very good in the offensive zone. They can get it moving around."
Gabriel Landeskog (two goals, including an empty-netter), Tyson Jost, Nazem Kadri and Valeri Nichushkin had the Avalanche goals, giving Colorado its 20th victory in the last 24 games (20-2-2).
Nichushkin gave Colorado a 4-1 lead early in the third period, his 14th goal.
But Fabbri answered midway in the period with his 14th goal, putting back in his own rebound on the power play, cutting the Avs' lead to 4-2.
The game didn't start at all like the Wings probably envisioned. Landeskog put Colorado ahead 1-0 just 1:12 into the game with his 24th goal.
The Avalanche hemmed the Wings in the zone, hung onto the puck, and defenseman Cale Makar made a dazzling move to the net on the ensuing scramble, Landeskog buried a rebound past goaltender Thomas Greiss.
Darren Helm, who returned to Little Caesars Arena as a member of the Avalanche, was in the starting lineup and drew an assist.
The Avalanche pushed the lead to 2-0 on Jost's sixth goal, jamming a loose puck in front of Greiss at 11:47.
Blashill anticipated the Avalanche would have possession of the puck at times, and wanted the Wings to stay patient.
"We’re going to have times in our end where they’re gonna be rolling around and we have to be comfortable with just kind of staying between them and the net and not panicking in those situations, because they do get that type of offense going," Blashill said.
'"They have some very high-end players. (Nathan) MacKinnon is one of the best players in the league (MacKinnon didn't play Wednesday because of a minor injury). (Cale) Makar’s established himself as one of the best defensemen in the league. I’ve been a Nazem Kadri fan for a long time since I coached against him in the American League, he’s a hard player to play against that can score. Just go up and down their lineup."
The Wings sliced the lead in half on Zadina's seventh goal.
Moritz Seider drove down the ice on a 2-on-1 rush, kept the puck and snapped a shot off goaltender Pavel Francouz that went to Zadina trailing. Zadina quickly deposited the rebound at 11:35 of the second period.
Dylan Larkin, who was a game-time decision after dealing with an injury suffered during Tuesday's practice, earned his 200th career assist on Zadina's goal, then added another on Fabbri's goal.
But the Avalanche restored the two-goal lead on Kadri's 22nd goal. Kadri, battling in front of the net, backhanded a loose puck past Greiss at 18:19, giving the Avalanche a 3-1 lead heading into the final 20 minutes.
Greiss made 27 saves, getting a second consecutive start for the first time since Dec. 28-31.
"It seems like his game is sharpening up," Blashill said. "He had a real good run at the end of last year for us. We’re hoping he can have a good run again for us this year. We going to need both guys (Greiss and Alex Nedeljkovic) to be good.
"We got a lot of games coming up. We’re not a team that gives up five, six, seven chances a game. We give up too many chances. When you do that, you put a lot of weight on the shoulders of your goalie.”
