DENVER (AP) — Brad Richards scored the winning goal with a minute remaining and the Detroit Red Wings beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-3 at Coors Field on Saturday night in the NHL’s warmest regular-season outdoor game.
Richards, playing in his fifth NHL outdoor game, tipped a shot over the shoulder of Semyon Varlamov. Tomas Tatar, Gustav Nyquist and Justin Abdelkader also scored for the Red Wings. Darren Helm added an empty-netter to seal the win.
Nathan MacKinnon, Tyson Barrie and Alex Tanguay had goals for the Avalanche in the first NHL outdoor game in Colorado.
The feelings between these two heated rivals hasn’t melted all that much over the years. Neither did the ice despite the temperature being an unseasonably balmy 65 degrees at puck drop. The warmest game-time temperature before Saturday in an NHL regular-season outdoor game was 62 degrees on Jan. 25, 2014, when Los Angeles hosted Anaheim at Dodger Stadium.
