Extra period is short work
Chicago’s Toews ends it just nine seconds into overtime, but Avs salvage a point
CHICAGO» The Chicago Blackhawks are likely to miss the playoffs for the first time in 10 years.
They needed less than 10 seconds of overtime Tuesday to keep the Avalanche outside the playoff picture — for now.
Jonathan Toews scored nine seconds into overtime, and the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Avalanche 2-1 on Tuesday night at the United Center.
Toews and Patrick Kane capitalized on a 2-on-1 moments into the extra session after Toews got in behind J.T. Compher and Nathan MacKinnon. Kane finessed a saucer pass that eluded Tyson Barrie, and Toews promptly converted.
The Avalanche (35-24-7) pulled into a tie with the idle Los Angeles Kings, who occupy the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Through 66 games apiece, both teams have 77 points and 34 wins in regulation or overtime, which is the first playoff-seeding tiebreaker. The second tiebreaker, head-tohead point total, benefits the Kings because of their overtime win in the only matchup against the Avs so far. The teams will meet twice more before the regular season ends.
Colorado has the highest goal margin in the league among teams not currently occupying a playoff slot.
“Not happy with the overtime goal at all,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “We made a mistake on that. Easy coverage, and we let a guy get behind us and cost us a second point.
“You’ve got to be willing to check. We’re caught in a little bit of a spot right now. Our top guys are looking to score, and they’re not ready to check in overtime. We keep getting scored on. We have to have more commitment to defend the 3-on-3 than we did tonight.”
The Blackhawks (29-30-8) put 12 shots on net in the first period, but the only one that got past Semyon Varlamov was perhaps the most innocuous. Erik Gustafsson
got the Blackhawks on the board at 5:08 when his innocent-looking shot from the point glanced in off the left skate of Avs defenseman Patrik Nemeth.
Gustafsson, who signed a twoyear contract extension Tuesday morning, had not scored since his season debut Jan. 20. Toews and Brandon Saad assisted on the goal.
Saad, Toews and Kane supplied plenty of pressure in the first period, but the Avs responded in the second. Colorado tied the game at 16:18 when Nathan MacKinnon connected on a snap shot from the left circle and beat Blackhawks goalie Jean-Francois Berube on the power play. It was MacKinnon’s seventh goal and 13th point in his last seven games. He has 32 goals this season and leads the NHL in points per game.
“He’s been unbelievable,” rook- ie center Tyson Jost said. “He’s so dominant. He’s a man among boys out there.”
Gabe Landeskog and Tyson Barrie provided the assists.
The Blackhawks picked up the pace in the third period, and Varlamov made a pair of top-rate saves against Toews and Alex DeBrincat in the first six minutes in a scoreless period.
That led to Toews’ 18th goal of the season early in overtime. Colorado has gone to overtime in four of its last eight games and has lost three of them.
“Most games are going to tighten up now,” Bednar said. “They’re going to be closer games, onegoal games a lot, you see overtime. We have to fix that aspect of our game and keep competing.”