It’s been a difficult stretch for the Blackhawks of late and the degree of difficulty is no easier on Wednesday night with the Colorado Avalanche as Chicago’s opponent at the United Center.
The Avalanche have been steadily gaining momentum as the season has progressed and currently sit comfortably in the first wild card position, up six points to their closest chaser. They’ve been especially strong in their latest stretch, going 8-1-1 and outscoring opponents 39-21 — the highest goals percentage in the league (64.41) — in that span. Interestingly, the Avalanche aren’t necessarily a super high-quality chance team (50.74 percent expected goals, 13th in league), but they don’t need to be: they dominate with shot possession (53.05 percent shot attempts, third) and have the skilled players who can score from farther out.
Speaking of skilled players, three have been especially hot over the last 10 games, producing at over a point-per-game rate: Nathan MacKinnon (19 points in the last 10 games), Mikko Rantanen (15 in 10), and Cale Makar (13 in 10). Valeri Nichushkin played in just seven of those 10 games but has six points (4 G, 2 A), while Devon Toews scored twice on Tuesday in the Avalanche’s 3-1 victory over the Florida Panthers to bring his total to eight points in 10 games. Secondary scoring from the forward group Artturi Lehkonen, Joel Kiviranta (0.6 PPG), Casey Mittelstadt (0.5), and Jonathan Drouin (0.5) has also been strong.
So why were the Avalanche having issues in the first couple of months? Their goaltending was atrocious, with the league’s worst save percentage (.856) before December. Since then, the team has acquired Mackenzie Blackwood, and he’s been so good in his nine games with the Avalanche — seriously, his .940 save percentage is remarkable — that Colorado gave him a five-year contract extension at the end of 2024.
Colorado’s morning skate was an optional one, so no official lineup to share just yet. Here’s how they skated against Florida a few nights ago:
Avs warmies lines tonight: Drouin — MacKinnon — Rantanen Lehkonen — Mittelstadt — Colton Kiviranta — Kelly — O’Connor Felhaber — Parsinen — Innala Toews — Makar Girard — Manson Middleton — Malinski Blackwood
— Ryan Boulding (@rboulding.bsky.social) January 6, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Jonathan Drouin will be removed from that lineup, though, so that will lead to a bit of a shakeup for both the forward and defense groupings:
Jonathan Drouin is not going to play tonight for the #Avs. Jared Bednar said they will play with 11 forwards and seven defensemen against the Hawks.
— Corey Masisak (@cmasisak22) January 8, 2025
After beating the surging Montreal Canadiens 4-2 to open the new year, fans were hoping it might be the start of a fresh, positive run for the Blackhawks. Unfortunately, the team followed up that initial 2025 game with another lopsided 6-2 defeat to the New York Rangers on Sunday. It’s hard to say that loss was more demoralizing than the embarrassment that was the Winter Classic, but it was close simply because the Montreal game got everyone’s hopes up just in time for them to be dashed again. Against the Canadiens, the Blackhawks showed that they can be a higher-paced, competitive team, so for many players to revert to dragging themselves through the motions is frustrating.
That frustration was especially apparent at Tuesday’s practice and after:
Nick Foligno talked after practice about how the Blackhawks as a team are still trying to find an identity, mentioning how lack of discipline has been a major issue lately. However, he also said that while the lack of success is frustrating, that everyone has to “hold on to hope” that things will change if the team keeps putting in the effort.
It’s hasn’t been all bad for every player, especially the young defensemen, who seem to have really bought into the new system under Anders Sorensen. Even assistant coach Kevin Dean has liked the more positive mindset with the defensemen:
The Blackhawks had an optional morning skate on Wednesday, so it’s expected they will roll the lines they did at Tuesday’s practice. Lukas Reichel is expected to make his return to the lineup in replace of Pat Maroon, and Petr Mrazek will be in net. I guess Philipp Kurashev is never being let out of the doghouse, eh?
Coach Anders Sorensen also gave a limited update on injury statuses for Alec Martinez and Connor Murphy:
Blackhawks — Statistic — Avalanche
45.24% (31st) — 5-on-5 Corsi For — 53.05% (3rd)
45.23% (30th) — 5-on-5 Expected goals for — 50.74% (13th)
2.53 (31st) — Goals per game — 3.43 (5th)
3.43 (28th) — Goals against per game — 3.17 (22nd)
43.9% (31st) — Faceoffs — 44.7% (30th)
23.3% (12th) — Power play — 22.8% (13th)
83.6% (6th) — Penalty kill — 77.6% (22nd)
(All stats from this season)
How to watch
When: 6:30 p.m. CT
Where: United Center, Chicago
TV: TNT
Webstream: Max
Radio: WGN 720