Necas Nets Four Points and Blackwood Shuts the Door as Avalanche Blank Red Wings 4-0

There was a time when Colorado against Detroit meant something else entirely — two teams trading Stanley Cups and bad blood through the late nineties, five championships between them from 1996 to 2002. Those days are long gone. On Saturday night at Ball Arena, the gap between the two franchises was laid out in the plainest terms possible: one team is chasing another Cup, the other is chasing a playoff spot it has not seen in eleven seasons.

The Avalanche won 4-0, and for the first period or so, it did not look that simple. Detroit came out swinging. The Red Wings had thirteen of the first fourteen shots and forced Mackenzie Blackwood into a couple of big early saves, and they killed off two Colorado power plays to keep the game scoreless. But the third penalty proved one too many. Martin Necas knocked in a rebound at 9:46 of the second period, and from there the night belonged to the home side.

Nathan MacKinnon made it 2-0 less than three minutes later, beating Daniil Tarasov with a one-timer on another power play for his tenth goal of the season. Necas added his second at 7:15 of the third, and Cale Makar finished the scoring two and a half minutes after that with Colorado's third power-play goal of the night. Each of the Avalanche's big three finished with three points or more — Necas with two goals and two assists, MacKinnon and Makar with a goal and two assists apiece.

Blackwood, meanwhile, was quietly excellent at the other end. He stopped all 27 shots he faced for his first shutout of the season and the eighteenth of his career, and he had to be sharp early, when Detroit was carrying the play and the game could have gone the other way. Tarasov stopped 25 shots for the Red Wings, but once the dam broke in the second period, there was no holding it back.

The win also marked a milestone on the bench. It was the 800th career game for Avalanche coach Jared Bednar, every one of them behind the Colorado bench, and his 455 wins are the fifth-most through 800 games in NHL history. Bednar has now coached this team to a Cup and kept it a perennial contender since 2020; Saturday was a reminder of how far the franchise has travelled under him, and how far Detroit still has to go.

The Red Wings, now 7-8-3, have lost three straight and four of their last six, and the rebuild that was supposed to be nearing its end still looks some way from the finish line. Colorado, at 10-6-2, has won four of six and looks every inch the contender it is. Detroit heads to St. Louis on Tuesday night; the Avalanche go to Toronto the same evening, with Bednar's milestone in the books and another shutout for his goaltender to build on.