The Chicago Blackhawks had their asses thoroughly handed to them by the Colorado Avalanche in Thursday night at the United Center in a 5-0 loss.
The first period was actually, kind of … good, though? At least it wasn’t terrible. The Blackhawks did have a 13-10 edge in shots on goal although the Avs had the better quality of the chances with a 14-7 scoring chance advantage and 64.48 percent share of the expected goals, per Natural Stat Trick.
But the sustained zone pressure Chicago mustered never led to a goal and then a late 2-on-1 for Colorado did, with Zach Parise providing the honors:
Then the second period started and everything went completely to shit for the Blackhawks. Ross Colton scored on the power play as the Blackhawks defense decided covering players in the crease wasn’t necessary:
Colorado scored again 42 seconds later on a goal initially awarded to Ryan Johansen and later given to Parise:
In the final seconds of the second (see what I did there?!) Devon Toews ripped this one-timer into the Chicago net to make it a 4-0 game.
Just for fun, Nathan MacKinnon added a fifth goal in the third for his 100th point of the season.
Mercifully, the game ended soon after that.
Notes
- Taylor Raddysh hit the post on a pretty good scoring chance during a second-period power play. It seems like the only time Raddysh gets noticed is when there’s a moment resulting in the thought of, “Would’ve been nice if Raddysh had scored there.”
- Expectations weren’t sky-high for Anthony Beauvillier when he arrived and he’s missed a bunch of time with an injury. Still, there is ice time to available here for him — or anyone, really — to possibly earn NHL futures either here or elsewhere. But that turnover which led to the first Parise goal is not how said ice time will be earned.
- Justus Annunen cannot be a real person but he apparently had the shutout for Colorado in this game. Easiest shutout in NHL history? Certainly on the list.
- For all the people who love to point to fighting as momentum-turning moments within games: presenting Reese Johnson’s scrap in the second period as Exhibit A, your honor.
- It’s surprising Mrazek hasn’t had more blowups this season like the one he had after Colton’s goal. The main photo for this recap came seconds before that goal. Notice the mostly absent Blackhawks defense there? Not great!
- Josh Manson certainly inherited some traits from his father, eh?
- This team just isn’t good right now and that’s the plan and the future should be better and we just have to be patient and nights like this are going to happen and all of those things are true but … Ho. Lee. Fuck. has it been depressing at times to watch this built-to-lose hockey team while the whole plan unfolds. Hard to locate that hope during evenings like that.
- Let’s summarize the game thusly:
Maybe get this kid some help in the offseason, eh?
Game Charts
Three Stars
- Zach Parise (COL) — 2 goals, 1 assist
- Justus Annunen (COL) — 24 saves, shutout
- Nathan MacKinnon (COL) — 1 goal, 1 assist
What’s Next
The Blackhawks host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night at the United Center for a 7 p.m. puck drop.