Avs fall to Stanley Cup champs.
BLACKHAWKS 6, AVALANCHE 3 Road win streaks, including at United Center, derailed
Blackhawks end Colorado’s 3-game winning streak.
chicago » The Avalanche’s winning streak ended at three Sunday night. And it ended with an absolute stinker. Chicago’s Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa each scored twice and the Blackhawks romped over Colorado 6-3 at the United Center, winning their seventh in a row.
It also ended what bordered on a bizarre run of the success for the Avalanche in Chicago, since Colorado had won the previous five meetings between the Central Division rivals in the United Center.
The Avalanche got two goals from Matt Duchene and a late one in garbage time from Nathan MacKinnon, but Semyon Varlamov was yanked in the second period after allowing four goals on 20 shots in his sixth consecutive start, bringing on Calvin Pickard.
“They were the better team tonight,” said Colorado coach Patrick Roy. “They were skating well and their best players had a great night. ... I could guarantee you one thing and promise you one thing: We’re going to lose another game on the road (before) the end of the year. It had to happen. We had five wins in a row here.”
He also noted that the Avalanche, with a 12-9 road record going into the night, had won its previous four away from home. But whether this was the law of averages or the defending Stanley Cup champions reasserting the home-ice advantage in the rivalry, it was an ugly loss for the recently resurgent Avalanche
— even if the goal was to quickly forget it and turn the page.
Goals from Brandon Mashinter, Kane and Hossa put the Blackhawks up 3-0 after 22 minutes, but Duchene scored twice to get the Avalanche within 3-2 midway through the second period.
First, Duchene reached the 20goal benchmark for the fourth time in his career, and that’s especially impressive considering the seventh-year forward scored only once in October and this was just the Avalanche’s 43rd game of 201516. His goal at least ruled out Chicago goalie Corey Crawford getting his seventh shutout of the season.
On Duchene’s second, controlling the puck at the bottom of the right circle, he drew Crawford out of position and fired into what essentially was an empty net.
“Tangs made a typical Tanguay pass, backdoor to me,” Duchene said of teammate Alex. “I actually didn’t read it right away. I was delayed; otherwise, I would have had a tap-in. When I got it, I just tried to hold it for a second. I was looking pass first, but I saw (Crawford) slide out of the net and I had the whole four-by-six to shoot at.”
The game was out of hand long before MacKinnon scored at 15:02 of the third period to make it 6-3.
“I think we did a lot of really good things offensively,” Duchene said. “Crawford made some big saves in the second period when it was 3-2. We hit a crossbar in the second, and I think if we tie it up there, it’s a different game. But defensively, we were a bit sloppy and probably gave them a little bit too much.”
In all, the game stood in marked contrast to the Avalanche’s previous visit to the United Center, on Dec. 15, when Varlamov had 29 saves in a 3-0 Colorado win. On Sunday, Varlamov went to the bench after Kane’s second goal made it 4-2 at 12:25 of the second period.
“I was thinking about giving Varly a day off against Tampa Bay (Tuesday), and the way the game was going, I said, ‘Maybe I’m going to give him the day off tonight and then he’ll play against Tampa Bay,’ ” Roy said. “We’re in the battle for a playoff spot and when we’re going to have nights like this, I’m just going to rest him, that’s all.”