Tuesday night in Denver, the Detroit Red Wings (33–31–6) will look to make it two wins in a row when they take on the Colorado Avalanche (43–25–3) at Ball Arena.
Dec 7, 2024; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Red Wings right wing Alex DeBrincat (93) fights for control of the puck against Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar (8) at Little Caesars Arena. (Brian Bradshaw Sevald, Imagn Images)
Monday night in Salt Lake City, the Red Wings rallied from an early injury to starting goaltender Petr Mrazek to injury and an early deficit to win 5–1, despite mustering just 14 shots on goal. Alex Lyon was the fill-in hero for Detroit against the Utah Hockey Club, conceding a goal on the first shot he faced before making 16 straight saves to close out the game.
Per coach Todd McLellan, Mrazek will not be available for Tuesday night's game, and while Lyon had a relatively light workload against Utah, he is unlikely to return to the crease against the Avs. Instead, Cam Talbot will likely handle the goaltending duties for the Red Wings. In front of Talbot, expect to see Detroit stick with the lineup that won Monday night.
On the Colorado side of the level, Mackenzie Blackwood will start in goal. Blackwood has been excellent for the Avalanche since being acquired from San Jose in December, posting a 19–8–3 record along with a .917 save percentage and 2.22 goals against average. Sam Girard, Logan O'Connor, and Parker Kelly are also expected to fold back into the lineup in place of Erik Johnson, Jimmy Vesey, and Miles Wood.
After the win Monday night, the Red Wings' playoff odds took a slight jump to 7.1%, per MoneyPuck.com. When asked after Monday's game about his mentality, Lyon said, "Just fight. I think that's the mentality that we have as a team right now: Just gotta fight and see what happens. Scratch and claw and just see where it takes us." Detroit will look to carry that mentality into Tuesday's game in Denver.
As for the Wings' wild card rivals, three will be in action Tuesday night, all of them on the road: the Senators will be taking on the Sabres in Buffalo, the Canadiens will play at the St. Louis Blues, and the New York Rangers are in Los Angeles to play the Kings. The Blue Jackets and Islanders are both off for the evening.
Tonight's game (another 9 PM Eastern puck drop) will air on its usual broadcast homes: FanDuel Sports Network Detroit for in-market fans and ESPN+ for out-of-market ones. 97.1 The Ticket will have the radio broadcast, as usual.
