Blackwood makes 27 saves, Necas has 4 points, Avs beat Wings 4-0

DENVER — Mackenzie Blackwood made 27 saves, Martin Necas had two goals and two assists and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-0 on Saturday night.

Blackwood had his first shutout of the season and 18th of his career and Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar had a goal and two assists each for Colorado.

It was the 800th career game for Avs coach Jared Bednar, with all coming behind the Colorado bench. His 455 wins are fifth through 800 games.

The once-fierce rivalry, which accounted for five Stanley Cup titles from 1996-2002, has cooled significantly since Detroit moved to the Eastern Conference and the teams have not been competitive at the same time. Colorado has been a perennial title contender since 2020, winning it all in 2022, while the Red Wings are in the midst of an 11-season playoff drought.

Daniil Tarasov stopped 25 shots for Detroit, which was the more aggressive team early. The Red Wings had 13 of the first 14 shots in the first period and forced Blackwood to make a couple of big saves. The Avs came alive late in the first with a couple of high-quality scoring chances but couldn’t score.

The Red Wings were stuck on 13 shots until midway through the second period but killed off two Colorado penalties to keep it scoreless, but the Avs cashed in on their third when Necas knocked in a rebound at 9:46 of the second.

MacKinnon made it 2-0 on another power play less than three minutes later when he beat Tarasov with a one-timer with 7:30 to go, his 10th goal of the season.

Necas made it 3-0 at 7:15 of the third period and Makar scored Colorado’s third power-play goal 2:30 later to ice the win.

Up next

Red Wings: At St. Louis on Tuesday night.

Avalanche: At Toronto on Tuesday night.