Red Wings 3, Avalanche 0: Petr Mrazek turned aside 28 shots to register his first shutout of the season and lift visiting Detroit to its eighth victory in nine games.

Justin Abdelkader scored a power-play goal while Darren Helm and Luke Glendening added empty-net tallies as the surging Red Wings remained two points behind Tampa Bay for the best record in the Eastern Conference. Mrazek made 12 saves in the first period en route to his third career shutout and improved to 7-1-0 since starter Jimmy Howard went down with a groin injury.

Semyon Varlamov stopped 26 shots but fell to 1-5-0 lifetime against Detroit. Colorado, which dipped to 7-3-3 in its last 13 games, failed on all three power-play chances to fall to 0-for-22 with the man advantage over its last seven games.

An apparent goal by Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog six minutes into the contest was reversed upon video review when it was ruled that teammate Nick Holden made a hand pass off a rebound in front. Mrazek had three big stops in the second to keep the game scoreless before the Red Wings' top-ranked power play struck.

Captain Henrik Zetterberg slid a pass to an uncovered Abdelkader, whose initial shot in front was denied by Varlamov before he jammed home the rebound with 6:35 left in the session. Mrazek preserved the lead with a shoulder save on Matt Duchene with about six minutes to play in the game before Helm added an insurance tally with 2:36 remaining after Avalanche coach Patrick Roy had pulled Varlamov for an extra attacker 30 seconds earlier.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Zetterberg has collected five goals and six assists while C Gustav Nyquist has four tallies and five assists over the last seven games for Detroit, which is 8-for-17 on the power play in that span. ... Colorado's Tyson Barrie sat out the game with a hip injury, clearing the way for fellow D Stefan Elliott to make his season debut. ... Red Wings G Jonas Gustavsson served as the backup in his first game in uniform since suffering a dislocated shoulder on Nov. 5.