The highlight reels of the rivalry from a quarter-century ago are always a hit before a home crowd, and helped entertain the crowd until the game took on life.

The Colorado Avalanche made their annual visit to Little Caesars Arena on Thursday, offering an opportunity for the Detroit Red Wings to measure themselves against one of the NHL's best teams. They held the second-highest scoring team in the league to one goal, then prevailed when Patrick Kane scored with 1:18 left in overtime.

It was past the halfway point of the third period when the game got some life to it, as Dylan Larkin's power play goal brought fans to their feet and an octopus to the ice.

Alex Lyon was solid in net as usual, yielding only to Nathan MacKinnon the first 40 minutes. It wasn't like the Avs got a ton of chances, either — when Lyon denied MacKinnon on a slap shot during a Colorado power play early in the third period, that was only the Avs' 21st shot on net. Shots at the end of regulation favored the Wings, 28-27.

Trending starts

Coach Derek Lalonde mentioned Wednesday that the two games in which the Wings had their best starts on the recent trip both resulted in losses, while the games in which goaltenders James Reimer (Calgary) and Lyon (Seattle) had to carry the load early resulted in victories. Wednesday was more of the latter, not entirely unexpected as the first game back home after an extended trip often is challenging. There was about five minutes left in the first period when Alex DeBrincat had a good chance, with Olli Määttä driving the puck up the left flank and passing to DeBrincat, only for his shot to clank off the near goal post.

Top line delivers

Lyon continued to have his hands full as the second period got underway, and yielded one to MacKinnon, who is in contention for the NHL scoring title. Linemate Mikko Rantanen had the puck in the left corner and centered it to MacKinnon, who had Jeff Petry a step behind and no impediment to get a clean shot on net. That made it 1-0 at 4:48. The Wings went on a power play soon after (their second, but the first was only 59 seconds) but spent most of it passing the puck. Back at even strength, Petry made a nice play carrying the puck around the net and tapping it out front only for an Avalanche player to get to it first.

Getting to the goalie

The Avs started goalie Justus Annunen, making his fourth appearance of the season and eighth of his career. It helped to have such a good team in front of him, of course, as the Avs pushed the Wings to the outside. Jake Walman was able to take off on a breakaway but he just had time to settle the puck on his stick before firing a shot that went high. DeBrincat had an open chance from the right side but Annunen made the save. Likewise, a tip-in attempt by Joe Veleno was turned away to keep the Wings off the board.

Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from  Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings rally to beat Colorado Avalanche, 2-1, in overtime