Denver, County. – Anyone who talked to the team after last night’s game will tell you that game wasn’t the best hockey Colorado has ever played. Even spectators can point out that the team was on the wrong track, which was to be expected after having fought a hard-fought battle the day before against the Ottawa Senators.
Chicago was ready to play from the moment the puck dropped. This effort was to be expected after frustrating losses in four straight games. Colorado, on the other hand, looked like it was in the second half of a back-to-back and faltered for most of the game.
Injuries ravage the avalanche again
Colorado Avalanche forward Ross Colton will “miss time,” according to Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar. He made sure to tell the media that he would have a better update for us on how long we can expect to see Colton on Wednesday morning.
Bednar said in the post-match statement that the forward wasn’t quite the same after a first-half shot. Colton played in the second period, but eventually returned to the locker room after his final shift ended at the 17:45 minute mark of the second period. He didn’t come back for the third.
This isn’t Colton’s first injury this season. He suffered a cut on his hand during a 5-1 victory against the Utah Hockey Club last week, October 24. Although he missed practice the next day, he was cleared to participate in Sunday’s game against the Senators.
Mandatory credit: Isaiah J. Images by Downing-Imagn
The 28-year-old forward is currently among the NHL leaders in goals with 8. He is behind Nico Hischier (New Jersey Devils) and Cole Caufield (Montreal Canadiens), and is tied at four with Kyle Connor (Winnipeg Jets). , Sam Bennett (Florida Panthers) and 2023-24 Hart finalist Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay Lightning).
Chicago comes first
Despite power play goals from Nathan MacKinnon and Casey Mittelstadt, Bednar said the team’s offensive production wasn’t at all what it should have been. Chicago looked much more dangerous throughout the game, overshadowed only by Colorado’s skill during parts of the second and late third.
Right winger Philipp Kurashev got the Blackhawks going with a power play goal from the point. This happened after Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard went to the penalty box for a two-minute minor on Blackhawks forward Ryan Donato.
Lukas Reichel and Donato also each scored goals in the first half. A quick shot from Craig Smith after the faceoff took a deflection from Reichel and was able to slip past Alexander Georgiev. As for Donato’s goal, Georgiev was able to make the first save on Jason Dickinson’s shot, but Donato’s presence in front of the net allowed him to find some twine.
The second period was quiet score-wise, and even most of the third. The Blackhawks’ last two goals were scored into empty nets. Bednar pulled Georgiev after an energy surge from the Avalanche in an effort to tie the score, but goals from Donato and forward Ilya Mikheyev – his first of the season – sealed the match at 5-3.
Simultaneous stitch sequences, anyone?
As mentioned in yesterday’s pre-game article, Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar were both looking to extend their season-opening point streak…and they did.
Related: Colorado Avalanche look to extend winning streak against Chicago Blackhawks
This is MacKinnon’s second straight season with a double-digit point streak dating back to the season opener. He joins Wayne Gretzky (4x), Ron Francis (3x), Mario Lemieux (3x), Guy Lafleur, Denis Savard, Dave Taylor and Cy Denneny, who are the only other NHL players to record more than one streak. double figures with a point since the first game of their career.
Makar’s point in last night’s game came in the form of an assist on Nathan MacKinnon’s power play goal. The assist helped him break the Avalanche/Nordiques franchise record for longest season-opening streak with a point by a defenseman, beating John-Michael Liles for the title.
Avalanche post-game quotes
Head coach Jared Bednar on what they will focus on heading into Tampa Bay on Wednesday:
Tampa Bay (is) a tough opponent, a deep team. We will have to evaluate the health of our squad, see what we are going to do, but we will do the same thing regardless of the victories or the defeats. We’ll break it down and see what we see. It’s pretty obvious tonight that we didn’t have the jump that we needed…there’s a lot of things we can do just to make the game easier for us when we don’t have our legs.
Defender Cale Makar on the challenges of creating chances:
We had a lot of possession tonight, but no inside play. All we had was along the boards…some nights it goes like that, we just have to find a way to get it to the net and that starts with us in the back, making sure we can pass the pucks through.
Forward Logan O’Connor on energy in the back half of a back-to-back game:
I think that’s to be expected in a back-to-back game and I think we made it harder on ourselves than we should have. Especially in the first period, I felt like we were turning over a ton of pucks in the middle of the ice. We weren’t able to participate in the forecheck, which is kind of the foundation of our game right now…you saw us spend a lot of time in the D zone, and back to back against a team which is I just skated, but it didn’t look good for us, especially in the first period. I think we just got hurt.
What’s next for the Avalanche?
After a day off to rest and recover, the Colorado Avalanche will get back to work on Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Lightning currently sit 10th in the league standings thanks to players like Nikita Kucherov and Brandon Hagel. Their record this season is 6-3-0 and they will look to continue their winning streak on Wednesday after victories against the Washington Capitals on Saturday and the Nashville Predators on Monday.
It’s worth looking for more information on Finnish goaltender Kappo Kahkonen, who was recently recalled by the Avalanche following his conditioning stint with the Colorado Eagles. Bednar was quick to place the blame on Georgiev for last night’s loss, but it gives the team more breathing room to test another capable goaltender in the crease moving forward.
