Avalanche score seven in third straight game, defeat Red Wings

DENVER --The Colorado Avalanche scored seven goals for the third straight game in a 7-3 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Ball Arena on Friday.

The Avalanche are the first NHL team to score seven or more goals in three straight since the Pittsburgh Penguins did it from Nov. 4-10, 1995.
"Guys are moving well and shooting well, they've been getting to the net quite a bit," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "The puck decisions in the offensive zone have been much better. There's a lot of activity, it's tough to cover, and to me that starts with our back end. That, with the movement and puck protection with our forwards, it's been tough to handle."
Andre Burakovsky scored two goals, Devon Toews had three assists, and Darcy Kuemper made 37 saves for Colorado (15-7-2), which has won six straight home games.
"I think we're just hungry around the net," Burakovsky said. "We're putting pucks there, we talk a lot about we want to shoot and crash the net and put bodies there. I think we've been doing that pretty good lately. We just want to continue to do that."

Colorado won at the Philadelphia Flyers 7-5 on Monday and at the New York Rangers 7-3 on Wednesday.
"The crazy thing is we haven't played our best hockey yet," Toews said. "I think through our room we understand that, and we see that. We see progress, and it's not going to change in one day, it's not going to change in one game. Just a work in progress and we're working through it."
Filip Hronek had a goal and an assist, and Thomas Greiss allowed three goals on seven shots before he was replaced by Alex Nedeljkovic (36 saves) at 10:49 of the first period for Detroit (13-12-3), which has lost three straight after a five-game winning streak.
"This team, probably, is going to test where you are defensively probably more than any other team in the league," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "They're as good offensively as any team in the league, both on their rush and their [offensive] zone. And obviously we've got to get better.
"It was a litmus test for us defensively and we've got to grow. We've got to get better. They're very good when it's a bit of a shootout like that and we can't let that happen."
The Avalanche took a 1-0 lead at 5:01 of the first period when J.T. Compher tipped Toews' point shot. Compher had missed 11 games with an upper-body injury.
Burakovsky made it 2-0 at 7:10 with a shot from the right point after a pass from Alex Newhook.
"It's always nice to contribute a little bit on the board," Burakovsky said. "I've found the back of the net for a couple games, so I think I've been creating, and it's always nice to get the win."
Darren Helm increased the lead to 3-0 at 10:49 on a breakaway off a pass from Nicolas Aube-Kubel. Helm signed a one-year contract July 29 after spending his first 14 NHL seasons with Detroit.
"You always want to see guys scoring goals, of course, but doing that against your old team in the first game against them is huge," Burakovsky said. "Real happy for him."
Vladislav Namestnikov cut it to 3-1 at 19:07, converting Pius Suter's cross-ice pass on a 2-on-1 for his 100th NHL goal.
Joe Veleno made it 3-2 at 3:21 of the second period with a backhand driving to the net.
Nathan MacKinnon increased the lead to 4-2 at 3:59 with a one-timer from the left point, Burakovsky made it 5-2 at 4:22 with a backhand after a face-off, and Samuel Girard made it 6-2 at 7:33 when he shot glove side from the slot.

Detroit closed to 6-3 at 13:34 on Hronek's short-side shot from the left point on a power play.
Cale Makar scored an empty-net goal at 15:30 of the third period for the 7-3 final.
"We're looking for answers," Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin said. "It's not uncommon to look around the league and see everyone has a great home record. Fans are back in the building, it's exciting to be home. There's extra jump, so we have to find a way to take away that momentum and energy from the crowd."
Bednar didn't have an update on Colorado forward Gabriel Landeskog, who sustained a lower-body injury in the second period. He had an assist to extend his point streak to an NHL career-high 10 games (three goals, 10 assists).
NOTES: Avalanche forward Nazem Kadri is day to day because of a lower-body injury he sustained Wednesday against the Rangers. … Toews has scored 10 points (one goal, nine assists) in a five-game point streak. … MacKinnon has scored nine points (two goals, seven assists) in a six-game point streak. … Newhook has scored five points (three goals, two assists) in a four-game point streak. … Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider has scored five points (one goal, four assists) in the past five games. … Toews had his fourth consecutive multipoint game to tie Jeff Brown (Nov. 12-19, 1988) for the most by a defenseman in Avalanche history. … Namestnikov has scored 100 goals and 221 points in 506 games in nine seasons with five NHL teams. … The Red Wings were playing the second of back-to-back games. They lost 6-2 at the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.