DENVER–The Detroit Red Wings surged to the top of the NHL standings with a 3-2 victory over the struggling Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday.
Goaltender Ty Conklin recorded 25 saves and Johan Franzen scored his 26th goal of the season as the Red Wings improved to 43-14-8 (94 points), a point better than the San Jose Sharks and Boston Bruins.
Playing without leading scorer Marian Hossa, who was injured during Detroit's victory over the St Louis on Tuesday, the Red Wings still had too much for the Western Conference-worst Avalanche (28-36-1).
Valtteri Filppula scored the first of three unanswered goals for the Red Wings with 19 seconds remaining in the first period. Franzen followed at 7:03 into the second with an assist from Brett Lebda and Kris Draper made it 3-1 six minutes later.
Milan Hejduk pulled Colorado within one goal with his 24th score of the season 18:19 into the third.
The Avalanche held an early advantage when John-Michael Liles opened the scoring with a slap shot that found the net three minutes into the game.
Colorado goalie Andrew Raycroft finished with 27 saves but was unable to stop his team losing a sixth straight game.
