Recap: Avalanche start slow, can’t rally as Blackhawks win 5-2

A slow start, coupled with offensive struggles, plagued the Avalanche.

One streak died and another one was born Monday night at Ball Arena, as the Chicago Blackhawks snapped a four-game losing streak with a 5-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche, as they saw their five-game high go by the wayside.

Casey Mittelstadt and Nathan MacKinnon each scored for the Avalanche (5-5-0). MacKinnon and Cale Makar each extended their point streak to 10 games, and Alexandar Georgiev had yet another shaky start but finished strong with 21 saves.

Chicago’s Ryan Donato had two goals and an assist for his club, and Petr Mrazek made 24 saves in the win. Here’s how it happened.

First Period

Philipp Kurashev struck first for Chicago to give the Hawks an early lead with a shot from the left point on the power play at 8:47.

Mittelstadt followed up with a goal 89 seconds later as his magical start to the season continued. It all started when Logan O’Connor moved the puck up the right side of the ice and gave himself some time to find a dance partner. He found Mittelstadt on the rush for his sixth goal of the season. Logan O’Connor had the puck and found Mittelstadt as the trailer on the rush for his sixth goal of the season.

Chicago took away that momentum in the blink of an eye. Lukas Reichel scored 48 seconds to give the Blackhawks a 2-1 lead. He won the faceoff and put himself in position to deflect a shot from Craig Smith. His decision was a brilliant one as the redirection sent the puck through Georgiev’s legs for the goal.

Donato added another insurance marker to make it a 3-1 lead. The Avs continuously found themselves pinned down in their own zone and struggled to get the puck out, and it ended up stinging them. The Blackhawks kept constant pressure and eventually, Colorado caved. Mikko Rantanen blocked the first shot, but the puck bounced to Jason Dickinson in the right circle. After that shot ricocheted off Georgiev, Donato pounced on the rebound. Makar was unable to help much on the play as he lost his stick and was unable to prevent Donato from jumping on the loose puck.

At 19:17 of the period, MacKinnon turned on the afterburner, speeding around Seth Jones and beating Mrazek five-hole while on the power play.

Second/Third Period

After a boring and scoreless second period, the Avalanche began to find their stride. However, Chicago did an excellent job of getting in front of pucks and preventing Colorado from gaining any momentum in the third.

The Blackhawks finished it off with two empty-net goals, courtesy of Donato and Ilya Mikheyev to seal the 5-2 win.

Takeaways

The Avalanche were sluggish from the onset and got outplayed by a bad team. And even when they started to take control in the third period, the deficit was too much.

Colorado needs to find a way to execute in all three periods. That has been a problem throughout the season. Georgiev was back in net and wasn’t very impressive. As we’ve written, it would seem that Justus Annunen could become the full-time starter sooner rather than later.

Ross Colton also went down with yet another injury. He was lucky to get away mostly unscathed after taking a slash to the hand against Ottawa. But his lucky charm was not with him on Monday. After blocking a shot with his foot in the first period, he attempted to limp his way through the rest of the game but succumbed to the pain. He missed the third period and will miss time, per Jared Bednar. He was also seen leaving the arena in a walking boot. This could be a huge loss as Colton has been an absolute force for the Avalanche this season.

Upcoming

It’s a rematch of the 2022 Stanley Cup Finals. The Avalanche take on the Tampa Bay Lightning Wednesday night at Ball Arena. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. MT.