DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings would have lost a game like this a year ago. A year ago, though, they didn’t have Patrick Kane.
Kane scored at 3:42 of overtime to give the Red Wings a 2-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night.
Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin dropped a pass to Kane, who whipped a quick shot from the top of the hash marks past Avalanche goalie Justus Annunen for his 10th goal of the season.
The third-highest scoring American player in NHL history, Kane signed with the Red Wings as an unrestricted free agent in late November. He’s the 12th player on the team to register at least 10 goals so far this season.
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“There’s goals out there that we couldn’t find last year,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. “We find that throughout all the guys. With that depth and that star, we’re finding some of those goals.”
Nathan MacKinnon scored for the Avalanche. Larkin had Detroit’s other goal.
The victory ended the Red Wings’ 10-game losing streak against the Avalanche. Detroit hadn’t won against Colorado since a 5-3 victory on March 18, 2017 at Joe Louis Arena. Thursday’s win was the first by the Red Wings over the Avalanche in six tries at Little Caesars Arena.
The Avalanche had won 10 in a row over the Red Wings dating to a 4-3 overtime victory on Nov. 19, 2017.
“I thought we got our legs toward the end of the first,” Lalonde said. “I thought from the second on we were a pretty good team. I think we got what we deserved today, a full two points.”
Annunen made 28 saves while Detroit goaltender Alex Lyon stopped 30 shots.
“Justus was the reason we got a point,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “I thought he was really good.”
Bednar wasn’t willing to say the same things about the rest of his team.
“I think when we look at it, we’ll see we had the more dangerous chances in the first period and maybe into the second, but they flipped the script on us,” Bednar said. “I think we were trying to make the right plays, but the execution wasn’t very good.”
Following a scoreless first period, MacKinnon gave Colorado the lead 4:49 into the second period. Mikko Rantanen fed MacKinnon as he neared the Detroit net and he flipped a close-range shot over Lyon’s right shoulder for his 34th goal of the season. MacKinnon is second in the NHL scoring race with 93 points.
Larkin tied the score on the power play with 7:58 remaining in regulation. Taking a pass from David Perron, Larkin snapped a high shot past Annunen on his stick side for his team-leading 25th goal of the season.
With 66 points, Detroit moved past Tampa Bay into the first Eastern Conference wild-card spot. The Red Wings have two games in hand on the Lightning.
“Every game is huge right now,” Kane said. “I think this group and this team has done a great job to get into this position and be playing these meaningful games.”
The Red Wings have won three games in a row and are 4-0-1 over their past five home games. Colorado’s two-game winning streak came to an end. The Avalanche are 1-4-1 in their last six road games.
UP NEXT
Avalanche: Return home to play the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.
Red Wings: Face the St. Louis Blues at home on Saturday.
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