Detroit Red Wings vs. Colorado Avalanche Score: Time, TV for LCA Matinee

If: Saturday 1 p.m.

Where: Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

TV: Bally Sports Detroit.

Radio: WXYT FM (97.1; Red Wings Radio Subsidiaries).

Red Wings goaltender Ville Husso, front, stops the puck as Avalanche left wing Artturi Lehkonen drives into the net in the first period January 16, 2023 in Denver.

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Game Notes: Turns out, defending a Stanley Cup is pretty tough. (We kind of forgot after watching Tampa Bay make it to the Cup finals three straight seasons.) The Avs are finally on form after struggling for the first half of the season with 11 wins in their last 15 games, including four in a row (three of them). who competed against the Canadian contingent of the Eastern Conference).

Colorado, which was so even last season, is a little less so in 2022-23, with two players – Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen – above 80 points and no one else above 60. (Though we’ll give defender Cale Makar our all Pass as he hands out so many passes himself, at 42 – that’s an average of 0.78 assists per game.) Rantanen has 45 goals, MacKinnon has 29 and Artturi Lehkonen (20) is the only Av with more than 15 goals.

Luckily for the Avs, they have Alexandar Georgiev in their sights. In his first season replacing cup winners Darcy Kuemper, Georgiev stopped 91.6% of shots on goal with an average of 2.61 goals conceded and 30 wins in 49 appearances. (This will be his first time facing the Wings this season as he sat out the Avs’ win in January.)

The Wings, meanwhile, are only 2-4 since they dished out a significant chunk of their roster at the close of trading in early March, though both wins came at Little Caesars Arena. In fact, the Wings outperformed their opponents at LCA 100-97 while outperforming them on the road 119-98. Maybe it’s the crazy bread?

After Saturday’s matinee, the Wings get another home game when the Florida Panthers come to town on Monday before a home-and-home game against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday and Thursday. The Avs, meanwhile, finally return to the Rocky Mountains for a Monday visit from the Chicago Blackhawks.

Follow live updates from Saturday’s game below.

Red Wings fans: listen this week’s episode of the Carlos and Shawn podcast., embedded below. It features our Red Wings reporter, Helene St. James, and examines the team’s recent losses and challenges during their playoff push. Catch “Carlos and Shawn” every Thursday morning at 5 and on demand freep.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.