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Walk It Off: Avalanche 3, Blackhawks 1

Posted on by L_B_R
Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Despite grabbing the early lead and keeping the Colorado Avalanche at bay for most of the first 40 minutes — well, Spencer Knight did, anyway — the Chicago Blackhawks couldn’t hold on forever, falling 3-1 on Saturday night in Denver.

The Blackhawks struck first at 6:31 of the first period as Connor Bedard corralled Tyler Bertuzzi’s centering feed and snapped a heavy wrist shot for a power-play goal and a 1-0 lead.

After controlling much of the 5-on-5 play, the Avalanche tied it with nine seconds left in the second. Cale Makar drifted unchecked into the slot and hammered home a one-timer off a Nathan MacKinnon setup, sending the teams into intermission tied 1-1.

Gavin Brindley gave the Avalanche a 2-1 lead at 7:31 of the third, pouncing on a Sam Malinski rebound in front of the net and then moving slightly to the side to flick it over a sprawling Spencer Knight to give the Avalanche their first lead of the night at 2-1.

Makar added an empty-net goal for his second of the game with 1:27 remaining to seal the Avalanche’s 3-1 victory.

Notes

This wasn’t a full-ice demolition by the Avalanche, but they controlled more of the game than the 3-1 score suggests. After the Blackhawks scored on the power play, the Avalanche tilted the ice hard in the first period. At 5-on-5, the Blackhawks were out-attempted 26-11, outshot 12-2, and owned just 21.2 percent of the expected goals in nearly 17 minutes. Frankly, it’s a minor miracle the Avalanche didn’t score in that frame — Spencer Knight was excellent through the opening 20 minutes.

The Blackhawks kept it respectable over the final 40, and the time spent on special teams helped in some way since this team sometimes finds a pulse on the penalty kill. Still, the Avalanche held the edge in attempts (28-19) and shots (13-10) at 5-on-5, even if the Blackhawks finished with an advantage in expected goals (55.3 percent). That latter number is skewed by lower volume, though: the teams combined for 17 scoring chances in the first (12 for Colorado) and just 18 total across the final two periods (10 for Chicago). Sometimes quality can offset quantity, but that math gets shaky when one team can score from anywhere — like the Avalanche — and the other needs a GPS and a permission slip — like the Blackhawks.

And that’s the recurring theme of this season: the Blackhawks are just a shallow offensive group. Yes, the Avalanche defend well, but the Blackhawks struggle to finish even when the looks are there. Bedard can drive play, but he can’t do it alone — and deep, disciplined teams have shown they’re more than comfortable keying on him and daring someone else to beat them.

Coach Jeff Blashill spoke to the lack of depth postgame:

There’s a lot to dislike about this one, but let’s stick with three good and two bad.

Obviously, Connor Bedard was a key positive. He led the team with eight attempts (four at 5-on-5), three shots on goal (one), and 1.002 expected goals (0.35). He was one of the few players consistently gaining the zone cleanly, he set up teammates repeatedly, and he drove play the way you’d expect. The issue, as noted above, is that the Avalanche could zero in on him and sell out to block his looks. Watching what Bedard can do with limited support makes it hard not to be excited about a future where he’s surrounded by more finishing talent.

The other clear highlight was Spencer Knight, especially over the first 40 minutes. This wasn’t necessarily his best game of the season, but he’s the main reason the Blackhawks weren’t down multiple goals after one. He stayed sharp in the third as well — including a big stop late — even as Colorado shifted from pure volume to more mid-quality looks. He finished at plus-1.34 goals saved above expected, comfortably above average. Knight has had, at most, three below-average outings all season — an impressively steady run considering the defensive environment in front of him.

Lastly, Artyom Levshunov had a decent bounce-back performance. Like Knight, it wasn’t a top-tier outing, but after a rough stretch before the break and some lost moments against the Nashville Predators, this was a much steadier, mostly mistake-free effort. Offensively, he was fairly quiet outside a few strong transition plays, but he was solid defensively and had a couple of standout sequences. If he can string together more games where he keeps things simple, the higher-end skill can build off that foundation.

The biggest negative remains the lack of depth scoring, but let’s narrow that to Frank Nazar, who is still trying to rediscover his offensive rhythm since returning from injury in January. He looks good in transition — especially as a passer — and sprung himself and Oliver Moore a few times with strong neutral-zone feeds. But, in the zone, it’s not clicking yet. He’s passing up shots too often and, when he does shoot, the selection hasn’t been great. Nazar had just one attempt tonight, and it was neither on net nor a scoring chance. He needs to find a way to get back to both scoring and setting up his linemates more effectively so the Blackhawks can have at least one other young offensive threat in the lineup.

The final negative is Kevin Korchinski’s playing time: just 8:24 of ice time. Not great, in my opinion. Jeff Blashill said postgame it was largely due to special teams and trying to put Korchinski in positions to succeed, which is reasonable in theory but less convincing in practice.

For example, Korchinski easily could have taken some of Matt Grzelcyk’s minutes. Grzelcyk played the third-most 5-on-5 time among defensemen (15:34), had over 60 percent offensive-zone starts against Colorado’s bottom six, and logged 2:22 on the power play. That’s pretty soft deployment. Grzelcyk has been effective this season — absolutely the most useful of Kyle Davidson’s depth defense additions over the years — but the kids are the future, so they either need to play because they’re part of the long-term plan or because boosting their value matters. Korchinski was steady tonight, made no major glaring mistakes, and had a few strong defensive plays — that should have earned him at least a bit more runway.

Yes, some of this rant is due to how Korchinski’s development has been handled overall — poorly, to say the least — and he should absolutely have to earn minutes like everyone else. But if he’s up, he should play. Even when Levshunov and Sam Rinzel were at their worst this season, they dipped below 12 minutes just once and never below 10. Otherwise, there are other defensemen in Rockford who could be a body to fill the seat in the press box or in a limited role when there are injuries or illness (like Rinzel tonight).

One final game note: Ryan Greene left midway through the first period, but he returned in the second and appeared to resume his regular rotation. Here’s the play after which he exited the ice:

And one last note, this one trade-deadline related: a few beat writers (like Ben Pope) and insiders (like Frank Seravelli on the pregame show) have mentioned that the Blackhawks are seeking second-round picks for some of their veterans, especially Connor Murphy. That may be the asking price, but in what’s shaping up to be a clear seller’s market, especially with how many defensemen seem available, that ask feels optimistic.

In the same podcast mentioned above, Friedman said that Korchinski was also possibly on the block:

“I know some people have wondered about Korchinski there because they’ve got a lot of D, he’s been in the minors. His future is another thing I think people have wondered about.”

Scott Powers also recently mentioned that the Blackhawks were interested in signing Ilya Mikheyev to an extension but that the two teams weren’t close because Mikheyev wants more term than Davidson is currently willing to give. He finished by saying there’s still a chance the Blackhawks do re-sign Mikheyev, but that likelihood is becoming slimmer by the day.

Nick Foligno also said Friday that he and Kyle Davidson have discussed his future with the team as well:

Game Charts

Three Stars

  1. Cale Makar (COL) — 2 goals
  2. Gavin Brindley (COL) — 1 goals
  3. Connor Bedard (CHI) — 1 goal

What’s Next

The Blackhawks don’t have much time to rest, as they head to Salt Lake City on Sunday to face the Utah Mammoth in an afternoon game at 3 p.m.

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