Anderson Has 48 Saves, Surprising Avs Beat Detroit

Craig Anderson made a season-high 48 saves, Chris Stewart and T.J. Galiardi each had a goal and an assist, and the Colorado Avalanche continued their surprising start with a 3-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night.

Kris Draper scored his second goal of the season and Jimmy Howard had 20 saves for the Red Wings, who are winless in their last three games.

Colorado, which was picked by many to finish out of the playoffs for the second straight season, is 8-1-2 following its second victory in two nights and leads the Western Conference with 18 points.

With the score tied 1-all, Stewart took a pass from Galiardi, skated into the Detroit zone and beat Howard with a shot from the top of the right circle with 10:20 left in the game.

The Red Wings had a chance to tie when they had three power plays late in the third period, including 3 seconds of 5-on-3, but couldn't beat Anderson despite putting eight shots on goal.

Detroit pulled Howard with 1:10 left and Paul Stastny, serving his third penalty of the game, came out of the box, picked up a loose puck and sealed the win with an empty-net goal with 59 seconds left.

Draper gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead early in the second period. Dan Cleary corralled the puck on the left board and sent a pass between the legs of defenseman Kyle Quincey to Draper, who was screening Anderson. Draper spun and backhanded the puck past the Colorado goalie with 16:51 left in the frame.

The Avalanche tied it with 5:34 left in the second. Stewart took the puck off Detroit defenseman Jonathan Ericsson's stick and fed Galiardi, who roofed a backhander over Howard for his first goal of the season.

The Red Wings had the first good opportunity to take the lead when Stastny drew a double minor for high sticking with 6:27 left in the first period. Detroit had seven shots with the man advantage, but Anderson made several good saves, including one on Tomas Holmstrom with 20 seconds left on the power play.

Less than a minute after killing off Stastny's penalty the Avalanche went on a four-minute power play but couldn't score.

NOTES: Avalanche F Darcy Tucker is out indefinitely with a concussion suffered in Friday's win over Carolina. Tucker was injured when Hurricanes' F Tuomo Ruutu checked him into the boards in the second period. The Avalanche recalled F Brian Willsie from Lake Erie. ... Avalanche G Peter Budaj (flu) was not available Saturday. ... The 49 shots by Detroit was a season high. ... Saturday's game was the 100th between the two franchises.