Mile High Sticking
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Colorado Avalanche Heading to Detroit for 2nd Game of Back to Back

By Nadia Archuleta

DETROIT, MI - MARCH 18: Detroit Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin (71) skates with the puck during a regular season NHL hockey game between the Colorado Avalanche and the Detroit Red Wings on March 18, 2017, at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Scott W. Grau/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
DETROIT, MI - MARCH 18: Detroit Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin (71) skates with the puck during a regular season NHL hockey game between the Colorado Avalanche and the Detroit Red Wings on March 18, 2017, at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Scott W. Grau/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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The Colorado Avalanche will complete the second game of their fifth back-to-back series against the Detroit Red Wings.

The Colorado Avalanche are heading into the Pizza Box — Little Caesars Arena — for the first time ever. The famed Joe Louis Arena, site of epic brawls and the glory days of the Avs-Wings rivalry, is no more.

The Red Wings skated to a 3-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Friday and haven’t played since. Colorado is coming off a disappointing 5-2 loss in Nashville. However, one small celebration — Andrei Mironov earned his first-ever NHL goal:

Unfortunately, through the ages of the rivalry and beyond, the Red Wings have an advantage over the Avalanche. The two teams (not counting the Quebec Nordiques) have played 110 times in the regular season, but for Colorado, the result is 46-58-5-1(ties) with 277 goals for and 333 goals against.

The last three seasons, Colorado and Detroit have split their two-game series every time. Last year both teams won their home game with Colorado enjoying a 3-1 home victory on March 15, and Detroit prevailing 5-1 just three days later.

Colorado will face Detroit only one more time this season, March 18 at home.

How to Enjoy the Game

Game time: November, 19, 4:00 pm MT
TV Networks: Altitude TV (Avs’ feed), FS-D (Wings’ feed)
Radio: Altitude Radio (AM 950)

Here’s What the Red Wings Have Been Up to Recently

The Detroit Red Wings have been up to some shenanigans lately. Actually, the majority of them stem from their 8-2 blowout of the Calgary Flames on November 15.

There were some pretty plays:

However, the majority of them were ugly — or really, just old time hockey. For instance, gigantic (6-foot-5, 225 pounds) right wing Anthony Mantha ended up with a Gordie Howe hat trick — a goal (two, actually), and assist, and a fight.

Well, there was a lot of fighting going on that night. In all, there were 27 penalties in the game accounting for 141 penalty minutes. The majority of them came late in the third period when this happened:

No, it’s not quite as epic as the historic brawl of 1997 (and yes, we’re going to relive it below), but it was still pretty cool to see 21-century players throwing back to a simpler, bloodier time.

Like I said, there were a lot of mememories in the old Joe Louis Arena.

Players to Watch

More from Mile High Sticking

For the Detroit Red Wings, Dylan Larkin is fetching for a points streak. The young (21) center earned a goal and two assists in the game against Calgary and added another goal against the Buffalo Sabres.

Right wing Anthony Mantha of the Gordie Howe hat trick leads the Red Wings with 10 goals and nine assists. He’ll be a good one for the Colorado Avalanche to keep their collective eye on.

The Colorado Avalanche didn’t have a fantastic showing in Nashville. Alexander Kerfoot did earn two assists, but he also sat for two penalties, one of which resulted in a Preds goal, so we’ll have to call that one a wash.

Something that I’ve enjoyed watching is how Erik Johnson and Samuel Girard look paired together. There may be the occasional fumble, but considering you’re looking at the oldest defenseman and youngest defenseman paired together, it looks pretty smooth.

This is also the last game the Avalanche have to decide if they’re going to keep Girard in the lineup, thus burning a year off his contract. The overwhelming consensus is “yes.”

Next: Saying Goodbye to Joe Louis Arena

The Colorado Avalanche scored the last two goals of the game last night. As rookie Dominic Toninato pointed out in his post-game presser, the guys didn’t give up. As everyone has pointed out, last year’s Avalanche would have given up. Hopefully the players can use those last two goals as momentum in today’s game.

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