Box score

DETROIT - Still a long shot to squeeze into the playoffs, the Avalanche at least is hanging in there.

But it took two players who were in elementary school the last time the franchise missed the postseason to prevent what could have been a devastating meltdown Sunday.

Wojtek Wolski stole the puck from Detroit Red Wings defenseman Mathieu Schneider and passed to Brad Richardson, who knocked his own rebound by goalie Chris Osgood at 2:41 of overtime to complete a two-on-one rush and give the Avalanche a 4-3 win.

The victory was the Avalanche's third in a row, matching its longest winning streak of the season, and its first at Joe Louis Arena since a 5-2 win on Feb. 14, 2004.

"Yeah, it's a big two points," said Richardson, whose 10 goals are seven more than he scored last year as a rookie.

One point for getting to overtime wouldn't have helped the Avalanche's razor-thin playoff hopes very much.

"You look at our chances and we need a miraculous run," coach Joel Quenneville said. "We've been looking all year long trying to sustain some type of a streak, and we've never been able to have anything of significance.

"We're due. I like the enthusiasm the guys have had over this stretch, and we'll see what happens."

Certainly the Avalanche's collective psyche would have taken a big hit if the Red Wings had pulled out the win.

The Avalanche squandered 2-0 and 3-2 leads, and Detroit's Kris Draper tied the score with 1:27 left in regulation with his second goal of the day.

"That's the type of game where all year long we lose a point late in the game," Quenneville said. "Getting it to overtime was reminiscent of the game the other day in L.A.; that one is still haunting us."

The Avalanche blew a 5-3 third-period lead to the Kings on Feb. 24, gave up a last-second goal and lost 6-5 in a shootout.

Wolski, who had gone six games without a point before he set up Tyler Arnason for a goal and a 2-0 lead at 14:04 of the second period, used his long reach to jab the puck away from Schneider near the boards at the Avalanche blue line.

Wolski passed across to Richardson, who skated down right wing with Brett Lebda the lone defender back in the four-on-four skating situation.

Richardson was looking at a half-open net when he took a backhanded shot, only to watch Osgood slide over in time to make a spectacular stop.

But Osgood wasn't able to smother the puck and Richardson nudged it between the goalie's pads to secure the much-needed win.

"He came across and made a great save," Richardson said of Osgood, who played his second game in a row because Dominik Hasek has a thigh injury. "I tried to backhand it as hard as I could. Luckily, it kind of sat there and I poked at it and it went right through him. I got a second whack at it."

Milan Hejduk, who has 23 points in the past 17 games, and Arnason scored 3:09 apart in the second period to give the Avalanche a 2-0 lead it proceeded to give right back.

Valtteri Filppula scored for the Red Wings with 56.1 seconds to go in the period and Draper tied the score 74 seconds into the third with a shot that beat goalie Peter Budaj to the short side.

The Red Wings took the first 10 shots of the period before Brett McLean scored on the Avalanche's first one, beating Osgood at 8:41 to make it 3-2.

The shots were 18-3 in Detroit's favor when Draper converted Schneider's pass to tie the score with 1:27 remaining.

"We played pretty well for most of the game and they turned it on in the third and took it to us for a while," Richardson said. "But we kept our composure and never got down."

As dominant as the Red Wings were in the third, they treated the Avalanche even more rudely here Jan. 28, when they enjoyed a 41-12 advantage in shots in a 3-1 win.

"That last game here was horrible," Hejduk said. "It was important for us to come out hard and give a better effort than we did the last time."

ETC.: Arnason has scored a goal in two consecutive games after getting blanked in 11 straight. . . . Defenseman Karlis Skrastins missed his fourth game in a row because of a sprained knee. . . . Forward Marek Svatos sat out his second in a row with a groin injury.

Colorado......0	2	1	1	-	4
Detroit......0	1	2	0	-	3

First period - No scoring. Penalties - Schneider, Det (hooking), 7:04, Det bench, served by Ellis (too many men), 12:29, Laperriere, Col, (holding), 16:21.

Second period - 1, Col, Hejduk 25 (Stastny, Liles), 10:55. 2, Col, Arnason 15 (Wolski, Laperriere), 14:04. 3, Det, Filppula 8 (Datsyuk, Schneider), 19:03. Penalties - Lang, Det (high-sticking), 16:15.

Third period - 4, Det, Draper 11 (Franzen, Maltby), 1:14. 5, Col, McLean 11 (Hejduk, Stastny), 8:41. 6, Det, Draper 12 (Schneider, Lang), 18:33. Penalties - Filppula, Det (holding), 9:09.

Overtime - 7, Col, Richardson 10 (Wolski), 2:41. Penalties - None.

Missed penalty Shot - Holmstrom, Det, 19:50 first. Shots - Col 10-9-5-3 - 27. Det 8-8-18-0 - 34. Power plays - Col 0 of 4; Det 0 of 1. Goalies - Col, Budaj 21-15-4 (34 shots-31 saves). Det, Osgood 7-3-4 (27 shots-23 saves). A - 20,066 (20,066). T - 2:24. Referees - Tom Kowal, Mike Leggo. Linesmen - Michel Cormier, Ryan Galloway.

sadowskir@RockyMountainNews.com Avalanche 4, Red Wings 3, OT

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