Avalanche Beat Red Wings 3-2 In Overtime
LARRY LAGE, AP Sports Writer
DETROIT (AP) — Andre Benoit scored off an assist from rookie Nathan MacKinnon with 31.4 seconds left in overtime, lifting the Colorado Avalanche to a 3-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night.
MacKinnon has a point in 13 straight games, breaking Wayne Gretzky's record for an 18-year-old NHL player that he set during the 1979-80 season.
Colorado's P.A. Parenteau made it a 2-all game 5:49 into the third period.
Detroit took leads on Niklas Kronwall's goal midway through the first period and Tomas Jurco's score with 7:50 left in the second.
Matt Duchene tied it at 1 midway through the second period.
Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 35 saves for the Avalanche, who have won four straight. Detroit's Jimmy Howard stopped 22 shots.
The Red Wings retired Nicklas Lidstrom's No. 5 jersey before the game. Lidstrom, one of the NHL's all-time best on the blue line, saw a fellow Swede have a rough night defensively.
Franzen skated into the crease when Duchene's shot was going to slide to the right of the net and he knocked it into the goal with his right skate.
The burly forward failed to do his job when the Avs tied the game for a second time.
Duchene carried the puck behind Detroit's net, easily keeping it while Franzen lightly pushed him. Franzen then accidently knocked Howard's stick out of his hands, making it tough for him to stop Parenteau's game-tying shot.
Franzen lost the puck in the opening minute of overtime and Duchene had a breakaway attempt stopped by a holding penalty on Kronwall while he wasn't holding his stick.
Colorado's Paul Stastny negated the power play by getting called for tripping. That gave the Red Wings an extra skater for 1:03 in the extra period.
Detroit didn't take advantage, giving Colorado a chance to win it without a shootout.
MacKinnon had the puck behind the net to the right of Howard and all four of Detroit's skaters were looking at the No. 1 overall pick from the 2013 NHL draft.
The phenom forward saw that and sent a diagonal pass to Benoit in the left circle and he made the most of the scoring opportunity, sending a shot to the top shelf that Howard had no shot to stop.
The Red Wings have dropped two straight, losing third-period leads in both setbacks.
NOTES: David Legwand made his Detroit debut, a day after he was acquired by his hometown team from the Nashville Predators. Legwand was on the ice when Detroit took a 2-1 lead and was briefly credited with an assist. ... Colorado scratched goalie Reto Berra a day after trading a second-round pick for him to provide depth behind Semyon Varlamov and Giguere.
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