Notes: Wings looking to slow down Avalanche

DENVER-- Every game in the NHL is a challenge but the challenge is even greater when you face a team you don't see too often and one that has some of the league's best talent.
The Colorado Avalanche are second in the Central Division with a 27-15-6 record and 60 points, behind the St. Louis Blues' 30-11-8 record and 68 points.

Leading the way for Colorado is center Nathan MacKinnon, who has 70 points (28-42-70), tied with Boston's David Pastrnak (37-33-70).
Only Edmonton's Connor McDavid with 76 points (27-49-76) and Leon Draisaitl with 75 (27-48-75) have more points.
It was just three seasons ago that the Avalanche finished seventh in the Central Division with a 22-56-4 record and 48 points.
The last two seasons. the Avalanche had 95 and 90 points.
"I think if you draft really, really well, it can change," Wings coach Jeff Blashill said before the game. "Now even where they were three years ago, they had a No. 1 pick, not theirs but in Erik Johnson. They had a No. 2 or 3 in (Gabriel) Landeskog (second overall in 2011), a No. 1 in MacKinnon in their lineup at that time. (Tyson) Barrie was a pretty high pick, (Matt) Duchene was a 3 overall. So they had those guys in their organization, in their lineup. For whatever reason, three years ago, it didn't go. The year before, it was a little bit better but they were ahead of, I would say, the replenishment curve than probably where we might be today.
"But that depends. If all the sudden some of the guys we've drafted here in the last few years really pop, it changes fast. You just don't know which guys are going to really pop and which aren't. What you have to do is you gotta go through a number of years of drafting really well and if you do that, you get yourself in position where it can change in a hurry. People ask me a lot, where are you guys at? It just depends, to me you need some guys to pop and become elite, elite players. I think we've got some guys on our team that have shown signs of that. Certainly (Dylan) Larkin would be at the head of that list in terms of showing signs of -- he's an elite competitor. There's moments where he's been an elite winner. If a number of guys pop, then it can happen fast."
In that 2016-17 season, the Avalanche had 32 points through 50 games. The Red Wings are at 28 points through 49 games.

The highest the Wings have drafted in recent years has been sixth overall, with forward Filip Zadina in 2018 and defenseman Moritz Seider in 2019.
Zadina scored his first NHL goal in Colorado last March 5 and has six goals and six assists in 24 games this season with Detroit.
The Avalanche took MacKinnon first overall in 2013. In 504 career games, he has 183 goals and 289 assists for 472 points.
"MacKinnon is arguably, you can make an argument he and McDavid, he's in that top five in the league without a shadow of a doubt," Blashill said. "That's not to take anything away from Landeskog or (Mikko) Rantanen on that line, they're really good players. I think adding a guy like (Nazem) Kadri, Kadri's a hard guy to play against. So sometimes you don't like being on the other side but he's a really good player and he's a really good two-way player. I looked at their centers and (Pierre-Edouard) Bellemare's a really good two-way player. I coached J.T. Compher, he's a really good two-way player. So you've got that high-end talent with those good two-way players.
"(Rookie defenseman Cale) Makar is as elite a talent as there is in the league as a young player. Not everybody has seen him lots but he's a gazelle. He can really, really skate. So they got some real high-end talent. We gotta make them defend. If you let that talent have the puck all night, it is really difficult so we've gotta make them defend the best we can."
Makar just set a new franchise record for rookie defensemen with his 11th goal in 40 games.
The Avalanche have swept the two-game season series in each of the last two seasons.
FILPPULA TO TAKE WARMUPS: Center Valtteri Filppula, who left Saturday's game in the first period with a lower-body injury, remains questionable against Colorado.
"I anticipate him taking warmups so we'll see," Blashill said.
Filppula has missed one game this season, Dec. 29 at Tampa Bay, with an upper-body injury.