Red Wings End Avalanche Unbeaten Run

The Colorado Avalanche have been on fire recently. So far this season Patrick Roy's men have won all six of their games. Mostly down to Semyon Varlamov's heroics between the posts.

The Detroit Red Wings are also in a good place. Having got over their slightly shaky start, the team is settling in to life with Daniel Alfredsson and life without Valtteri Filppula.

Expectations for the Red Wings' visit to the Pepsi Center were high for both teams. Mike Babcock's men are desperate not to repeat last season's chase for a playoff spot while the Avs need to prove that they're serious contenders.

The Avalanche got off to a bad start when Cody McLeod was assessed a game misconduct and a boarding major penalty after his push on Niklas Kronwall left the big Swede with concussion and cuts. Kronwall was stretchered off the ice but not taken to hospital.

The resulting powerplay allowed Henrik Zetterberg to set up Johan Franzen who then put the first goal on the board.

Pavel Datsyuk made a superb play and doubled the Red Wings' lead. The first period ended with Detroit holding a 2-0 lead.

The second period brought more goals and more disciplinary issues as Todd Bertuzzi's holding minor allowed Erik Johnson the space he needed to put the puck past Gustavsson.

Drew Miller and Cory Sarich both picked up a major for fighting after Miller cross checked the Colorado defenceman. Miller also took a penalty for the cross check.

Miller's extra time in the penalty box allowed Gabriel Landeskog to grab the equalising goal.

The second period ended all square.

After some sloppy play in the second, Detroit tightened things up and Johan Franzen again took advantage of a powerplay, this time Alex Tanguay, to restore the Red Wings' lead after seven minutes.

Pavel Datsyuk also decided to repeat the first period by scoring his second of the game. An even handed goal scored after Danny DeKeyser's shot rebounded.

DeKeyser was the recipient of the only Red Wings penalty of the third period when, with 21 seconds left in regulation, he took a slashing penalty against Matt Duchene.

The Avs were unable to benefit from the extra man though and Detroit finished 4-2 winners on the night.

No word from Brendan Shanahan on whether McLeod will face the banhammer for his hit on Kronwall yet. My guess is he'll get a three game suspension. No doubt we'll be talking about that later.

The big talking point in Denver will be the disappointment that comes with the Avs ending their winning streak. When a team has been playing so well, a loss hurts just that little bit more. 

That's not to say that the Avs played badly, Detroit are a team in good form and to win six in a row, especially under a new coach is a superb start to the season. As long as the team can reflect positively on the loss then the Avs will be fine moving forward.

Detroit will definitely be happy with the two points. Datsyuk demonstrated why he's a superstar skater, Franzen and Zetterberg linked up well and Alfredsson and DeKeyser also showed the spirit and determination to endear themselves to the Hockeytown faithful.

Hopefully Kronwall will recover quickly. Detroit need his trademark big hits.

Patrick Roy made positive comments about both teams after the game, acknowledging that his team have played well and can be hapmpy with their progress so far.