Colorado won at the Philadelphia Flyers 7-5 on Monday and at the New York Rangers 7-3 on Wednesday.
"The crazy thing is we haven't played our best hockey yet," Toews said. "I think through our room we understand that, and we see that. We see progress, and it's not going to change in one day, it's not going to change in one game. Just a work in progress and we're working through it."
Filip Hronek had a goal and an assist, and Thomas Greiss allowed three goals on seven shots before he was replaced by Alex Nedeljkovic (36 saves) at 10:49 of the first period for Detroit (13-12-3), which has lost three straight after a five-game winning streak.
"This team, probably, is going to test where you are defensively probably more than any other team in the league," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "They're as good offensively as any team in the league, both on their rush and their [offensive] zone. And obviously we've got to get better.
"It was a litmus test for us defensively and we've got to grow. We've got to get better. They're very good when it's a bit of a shootout like that and we can't let that happen."
The Avalanche took a 1-0 lead at 5:01 of the first period when J.T. Compher tipped Toews' point shot. Compher had missed 11 games with an upper-body injury.
Burakovsky made it 2-0 at 7:10 with a shot from the right point after a pass from Alex Newhook.
"It's always nice to contribute a little bit on the board," Burakovsky said. "I've found the back of the net for a couple games, so I think I've been creating, and it's always nice to get the win."
Darren Helm increased the lead to 3-0 at 10:49 on a breakaway off a pass from Nicolas Aube-Kubel. Helm signed a one-year contract July 29 after spending his first 14 NHL seasons with Detroit.
"You always want to see guys scoring goals, of course, but doing that against your old team in the first game against them is huge," Burakovsky said. "Real happy for him."
Vladislav Namestnikov cut it to 3-1 at 19:07, converting Pius Suter's cross-ice pass on a 2-on-1 for his 100th NHL goal.
Joe Veleno made it 3-2 at 3:21 of the second period with a backhand driving to the net.
Nathan MacKinnon increased the lead to 4-2 at 3:59 with a one-timer from the left point, Burakovsky made it 5-2 at 4:22 with a backhand after a face-off, and Samuel Girard made it 6-2 at 7:33 when he shot glove side from the slot.