Francouz makes 32 saves in Avalanche win against Red Wings

Pavel Francouz made 32 saves for the Colorado Avalanche in a 5-2 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Wednesday.

Francouz was making just his second start in February and earned his first win since Jan. 28.
Gabriel Landeskog scored twice, and Alex Newhook, Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar each had two assists for the Avalanche (37-10-4), who were coming off a 5-1 loss to the Boston Bruins on Monday and played without Nathan MacKinnon, who missed the game because of a lower-body injury.
"This was about finishing off the road trip the right way, with a 3-1 record," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "We've had a lot of travel facing some really good teams, and we're happy with that record, and now we get to go back home."
Darren Helm, who was making his return to Detroit after playing his first 14 NHL seasons with the Red Wings, started the game on Colorado's top line in place of MacKinnon and had an assist on his first shift.
"That was nice of [Bednar]. I definitely appreciated getting a chance to start with those guys," Helm said. "It was nice to get one in the net.
"That's going to be a good team in the future. They've taken some major strides this year."

Thomas Greiss made 26 saves for the Red Wings (23-23-6), who had won three of four.
"That's a heck of a hockey team, and we had five days off (last played in a 3-2 shootout win against the New York Rangers on Feb. 17), so there was some rust early on," Detroit captain Dylan Larkin said. "We were practicing hard, but they were playing games, and games are important."
Landeskog gave Colorado a 1-0 lead at 1:12 of the first period, knocking in a rebound of Makar's shot. Helm picked up the secondary assist on the play.
"That was a perfect start to our game," Bednar said. "Everyone was excited for [Helm] because we all know what this city and this team mean to him. It gave a little boost to our team."
Tyson Jost made it 2-0 at 11:47, putting in a loose puck from the edge of the crease after Logan O'Connor couldn't connect on a pass from Newhook.
"That was huge because we didn't want to lose two in a row," Jost said. "That's what good teams don't do. We knew we had to respond after how we played against Boston."

Filip Zadina cut it to 2-1 at 11:35 of the second period, scoring as the trailer after Moritz Seider banked the puck off Francouz's pads on a 2-on-1. Larkin had the secondary assist on the play, his 200th in the NHL.
"I didn't think 2-0 was insurmountable because we know we will get chances to score against that team," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "They are just so good in the O-zone and on the rush, even without Nathan MacKinnon. It's amazing how well they are playing without him."
Nazem Kadri made it 3-1 at 18:19, knocking home a loose puck in the crease, and Valeri Nichushkin extended the lead to 4-1 at 2:11 of the third period.
"I thought the third goal killed us, and so did the fourth one," Blashill said. "We had it within 2-1, and I thought we were taking the play to them, but the third goal changes everything.
"Then we take a penalty at the end of the period and give them more momentum."
Robby Fabbri's power-play goal pulled Detroit to within 4-2 at 9:38, but Landeskog shot into an empty net at 19:21 for the 5-2 final.
NOTES: Larkin, who had two assists, has scored 16 points (six goals, 10 assists) in an eight-game point streak. Seider also had two assists and has scored eight points (one goal, seven assists) in a five-game point streak. … The Avalanche are 9-1-1 in their past 11 road games.