Corey Crawford and the Blackhawks kept the party going Thursday night in Chicago with a 4-0 victory over the Colorado Avalanche at the United Center.
Crawford stopped 38 saves for his second shutout of the season and improve his record to 5-3 on the season. He has allowed just one goal in his last three outings.
The Hawks have now won four straight and are 5-0-1 in their last six. Marian Hossa scored twice, Artemi Panarin had a goal and an assist, Jonathan Toews scored and defenseman Duncan Keith had two assists for Chicago. Artem Anisimov recorded an assist to extend his career-high point streak to nine games.
Semyon Varlamov made 17 saves for the Avs, who have lost their last two games and four of five. He entered the game with a 11-4-1 record with a 2.12 goals-against average and .940 save percentage in 17 games against Chicago.
The city was in a festive mood after the Chicago Cubs defeated the Cleveland Indians in Game 7 of the World Series on Wednesday to win their first championship since 1908. In the early part of this game, it looked like the Avs would dampen the mood before Friday morning’s championship parade.
Twelve minutes into the game, the Hawks had only one shot on goal, while the Avs had 11. However, the opening period ended with the Hawks up 2-0. The Hawks killed off two penalties to grow some confidence before Toews scored his second goal of the season, knocking in a Duncan Keith rebound at 14:25. Just 38 seconds later, Hossa scored, fighting off defenseman Fedor Tyutin on a partial breakaway before sliding into the boards.
Hossa added his second 55 seconds into the third for a 3-0 lead. Panarin added an insurance goal at 12:40. But it was Crawford would kept the Hawks in the game throughout the second stanza. The Avs blitzed the Crawford with 11 shots in the closing six minutes of the middle frame, including three in short succession where Crawford made the initial save and/or stopped a rebound attempt. He made 26 of his 36 saves during the first two periods.
The Hawks travel Saturday to Dallas for the first half of a home-and-home back-to-back against the Stars.