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Fatally Yours: Avalanche 1, Blackhawks 0

Colorado: probably good at hockey!

Posted on by Dave Melton
Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

The Blackhawks were shut out for the first time this season at home on Sunday night, losing 1-0 to the Colorado Avalanche.

Chicago had some golden opportunities in the opening 20 but the first period ended scoreless. Colorado took over in the second and then opened the scoring when Cale Makar fired this rebound home with 1:39 left before the second intermission:

Despite plenty of opportunities during the third period, the Blackhawks were never able to find an equalizer and Colorado still has just one regulation loss this season after securing the 1-0 victory.

Notes

Aside from the plethora of points that Bedard has been piling up this season, he’s been noticeable in several other portions as a result of his improved skating. It seems like his backchecking and stickwork has been markedly better, too, with the clip below showing a lightning-quick stick-lift and swipe of the puck from Martin Necas as an example of this (stick around for the 24-second mark to watch it):

Yeah, Spencer Knight made the turnover that led to Colorado’s goal, which wasn’t a great moment for him. But he also weathered the storm during an Avalanche-dominated second period and also made a couple of late saves in the third that kept Chicago in this game. Miscues with the puck have not been a staple of Knight’s game so we don’t need to spend much time worrying about that.

The first period may have been an indication of the limitations to Ryan Greene’s game. He’s never been billed as a top-six forward, although he’s been skating alongside Bedard for much of this season. And while he can be given some credit for working his way into scoring positions, a guy with top-six potential is likely going to finish at least one of those chances. Perhaps Greene gets a little better at finishing as he gets more NHL time but it still looks like the bottom-six is going to be his domain over the course of his NHL career.

All of those missed opportunities left the first period feeling empty, even though the Hawks had an 80/20 split of the expected goals by racking up advantages of 16-11 in shot attempts, 8-2 in shots on goal, 9-4 in scoring chances and 4-0 in high-danger chances during 14:00 of 5-on-5 play in the opening 20 minutes. Colorado took over in the second with a whopping 87 percent expected goal share, owning the categories listed before by tallies of 26-6, 16-1, 11-1 and 5-1, respectively, during an even 16:00 of 5-on-5 play in the middle frame.

Frank Nazar did have an assist in each of the last four games prior to this evening’s points-less effort but it still doesn’t seem like we’ve quite seen the same version of Nazar who was all over the place in the first few weeks of the season. Of those four points he tallied in the last four games, only two were primary assists, and he hasn’t scored a goal since the Oct. 28 game in Ottawa. Thought this opportunity below offered a chance for him to take a quality shot on net, but he opted for a pass to Oliver Moore that resulted in no shot on goal from that odd-man rush. Nothing to be too concerned about because scorers go through slumps all the time. But it’d be nice to see No. 91 get a goal soon to set off another scoring spurt.

Nazar also had a rough moment in the second period when Josh Manson hit him into the boards with Nazar’s left wrist sandwiched awkwardly in the middle of it all but Nazar thankfully did not miss a shift.

The Nazar line with Moore and Teuvo didn’t do quite enough in this game despite having the highest offensive zone start percentage on the team. They were on the ice for 7:37 together and had just two shots on goal with only one scoring chance.

Here’s a positive sign: Sam Rinzel started in the offensive zone just 14.29 percent of the time but he helped turn those tougher starts into a 16-14 advantage in shot attempts, a 6-5 advantage in shots on goal and an 8-5 advantage in scoring chances during his 10:22 of 5-on-5 ice time. More of that, please.

We’re done with moral victories here but the Hawks turned in a subsantially better effort against the top team in the league after a game we don’t need to mention ever again, so they’re trending in a good direction. Pick up a pair of points on Wednesday night against the Wild and we’ll all rest easy during our food comas on Thursday afternoon. This all feels like the typical ups-and-downs of an 82-game season with no real cause for concern, frustrating as a 1-0 defeat may be.

Game Charts

Three Stars

  1. Scott Wedgewood (COL) — 22-save shutout
  2. Cale Makar (COL) — GWG
  3. Spencer Knight (CHI) — 25 saves on 26 shots

What’s Next

The Blackhawks return to the United Center on Thanksgiving eve to host the Minnesota Wild at 7:30 p.m.

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