Detroit Red Wings collapse in Colorado as jersey patch curse continues

The Detroit Red Wings were in Colorado on Wednesday night for a late-night contest against the Colorado Avalanche. This came after Colorado was busy on the trade market early in the day, upgrading some areas and flip-flopping some former top prospects.

As the Detroit Red Wings kicked off things with the Avalanche, it felt like the team had a chance to hang with the Western Conference juggernauts and storied rival. But Nathan MacKinnon and the Avalanche offense were no match for Detroit in Wednesday's match-up.

Detroit scored first, offering a real slim glimmer of hope. Robby Fabbri tallied one on a re-direct that got more of his skate than his stick but found the back of the net nonetheless. Detroit was riding the high until Cale Makar started his day after Mikko Rantanen tilted the ice with a great rush to set up the scoring chance.

While the Red Wings had the first goal, the Avalanche had the upper hand after that. Their offense was cutting right through Detroit's defense on the offensive zone entries, and they established things in the offensive zone with ease. It was a similar tune throughout the entire game.

Detroit Red Wings collapsed in a horrid 7-2 loss in Colorado.

David Perron scooped up Detroit's second goal later on when he corralled a rebound shot of his own and then picked a corner to fire it home and keep Detroit into it, giving them another lead. But Nathan MacKinnon did his thing later on, tying things back up at two before the end of the first.

MacKinnon and his linemates were just on a roll. Frankly, it was quite impressive to see how easy the speed is. He takes two to three strides and is up to speed, blowing by defenders. He can seemingly find ways to get open ice and make things happen -- his playmaking abilities are unreal.

After two periods, Makar had three goals, capping off his hat trick, and the Avalanche had 39 shots on goal. It was tough to see this happen to Alex Lyon, who was between the pipes. He was sprawling all over the crease, doing whatever he could to keep his team in it, but the Avalanche barrage of shots just made it too challenging.

In the third, James Reimer took over the reins. Colorado extended its lead to five goals, finishing things off in a 7-2 victory over Detroit. While Reimer came in to relieve Lyon, there's no reason to blame Lyon. The Avalanche finished the game with 54 shots, 40 of which were credited against Lyon.

The Red Wings defense was falling apart left and right in this one. It was tough to watch, but this game is not on Alex Lyon. It's too hard to blame him for a game like this when the team played so badly in front of him. Detroit's back in action on Friday, but the trade deadline is likely the focus now.

Wednesday was an active day on the trade market, so it will be interesting to see if this game causes changes in Steve Yzerman's trade deadline plans. Some folks are even starting to blame the jersey patch as a curse. The team's new jersey patch partnership with Priority Waste was announced recently.

Since donning the patch on their jerseys, the Red Wings have gone winless. The patches have no correlation with win/loss, but it sure makes for a nice scapegoat with the team's recent struggles. Hopefully, they can snap the skid soon with a match-up against the Coyotes on Friday.