The Colorado Avalanche (18-16-1) beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 in the shootout at the Pepsi Center. Avs fans will be pleased that their team (1) beat the Wings and (2) did so without their leading scorer Paul Stastny and captain Joe Sakic. Detroit was also without their captain Nicklas Lidstrom, who is out with a swollen ankle after blocking a shot during Friday night's game in Nashville.

The story of the evening was the penalties and consequent power-play goals. All of Colorado's goals in regulation came in three separate power plays during the first period. Salei scored the first goal of the game while Ryan Smyth and John-Michael Liles would add a goal and an assist each on the following two goals. Detroit received six of the first seven penalties in the game.

It took staying out of the penalty box before the Wings (23-7-5) could finally get on the board. While the Avs were on two nearly consecutive penalty kills, Detroit nabbed two power-play goals. In fact, the Wings scored all three of their goals in a four-minute flurry of offensive action.

Pavel Datsyuk scored first for Detroit when he put in his own rebound to earn his 14th point in seven games. Just 1:32 later, Tomas Holmstrom tipped in Mikael Samuelsson's shot from the point. Sammy had also assisted on Datsyuk's goal. Johan Franzen sent the Wings to the locker room at intermission with a three-goal tie when he took a shot from a weird angle at the bottom of the right faceoff circle that beat goalter Peter Budaj.

The Wings would be unable to score in the third period or overtime despite firing off 17 shots at Budaj, who faced 44 in total. In the shootout, he stopped Datsyuk (goalpost), Henrik Zetterberg, and Jiri Hudler. Detroit goaltender Ty Conklin stopped all but one shot making Wojtek Wolski's goal, the game winner.

Christy's Red Wing of the Game: Tomas Holmstrom

Homer had quite the night with one goal and two assists. Many nights he is the unsung hero and he gets whacked at left and right by goalies and defensemen trying to screen or deflect shots all game. Tonight, he was named the first star and got some recognition for his hard work.

Tomas Holmstrom

#96 / Left Forward / Detroit Red Wings

Height: 6-0

Weight: 203

Born: Jan 23, 1973

Central Division race... Chicago did not play tomorrow so they are now within six points with three less games under their belt. The Blackhawks face the Minnesota Wild on Sunday.