Vladislav Namestnikov records 100th goal of NHL career in loss to Colorado

Detroit Red Wings forward @Vladislav Namestnikov scored the 100th goal of his National Hockey League career late in the first period of his team’s 7–3 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Friday.

Namestnikov surpassed his entire goal output from the 2020–21 season with his ninth goal in his 28th game with Detroit this year. Racing into the Avalanche zone on a 2-on-1 rush, Namestnikov took a pass from @Pius Suter before calmly depositing the puck past a sprawling @Darcy Kuemper.

Suter and @Moritz Seider picked up the assists on Namestnikov’s milestone goal.

Namestnikov scored just eight goals and 17 points in 53 games with the Red Wings last season. He’s up to nine goals and 15 points in 28 contests to kick off 2021–22. The 29-year-old forward is in the final season of the two-year, $2 million AAV deal he signed with the Red Wings in 2020.

Of Namestnikov’s 100 career goals, 17 have come with the Red Wings. He added 53 with the Tampa Bay Lightning, 13 with the New York Rangers, 13 with the Ottawa Senators, and four in his brief tenure with the Avalanche at the end of the 2019–20 season.

@Joe Veleno and @Filip Hronek also scored for Detroit in the loss on Friday. @Andre Burakovsky led the way for Colorado with two goals; J.T. Compher, @Darren Helm, @Nathan MacKinnon, @Samuel Girard, and @Cale Makar also tallied for the home side.

Now losers of three consecutive games, the Red Wings will look to bump their slump on Dec. 14 when they take on the team against whom they recorded their most recent victory: the New York Islanders.