Avalanche succumb to trademark futility in another home loss

HIGHLIGHTS

GAME RUNDOWN

For the Colorado Avalanche, finding positives in this lost season has become increasingly difficult and heading into a home matchup against the Chicago Blackhawks was certain to present even more of an uphill battle than normal as the raucous Chicago fans lined the Pepsi Center, making it sound like a de facto home game for Chicago.

The Blackhawks took advantage of the cushy situation early on as Colorado’s fourth line broke down on multiple attempts to clear the puck from its own zone and Nick Schmaltz potted a rebound behind Semyon Varlamov to give Chicago the 1-0 lead just 2:38 into the game.

Just a few minutes later, the Blackhawks would put Colorado on the power play, typically a recipe for success when attempting to keep the Avalanche off the board, but the Avs’ top unit created a handful of scoring chances and a Nathan MacKinnon wrist shot was tipped in by Matt Duchene to tie the game and give Colorado the rare special teams goal.

Chicago wasn’t quite done, however, as a relatively even period overall tilted ever so slightly towards the Blackhawks when a Brent Seabrook shot found its way through quite a bit of traffic and beat a confused Varlamov to send Chicago into the second period with a 2-1 lead.

The second period was all fireworks starting just under halfway through as the Avalanche successfully broke out of their own zone and MacKinnon rocketed into the zone with the puck, fired it cross ice to Blake Comeau, whose subsequent slap shot beat a sliding Crawford to tie the game at 2-2.

Just 63 seconds later, Gabriel Landeskog prevented the puck from being cleared out of the offensive zone and he worked the puck to Matt Nieto, who drove the net and slide a backhand underneath of Crawford’s pad, putting Colorado ahead 3-2 in the blink of an eye.

Chicago responded just 19 seconds later on a broken play in front and Tanner Kero netted his second goal of the season when he beat Varlamov amid the net-front scramble.

It wasn’t quite done, however, as Duchene would get back into the fun when he took a pass from Barrie and flew down the ice, beating Michal Kempny with his speed and then going top shelf on Crawford to give Colorado a 4-3 lead. The second period saw the Avalanche outscore Chicago 3-1 and outshoot them 8-4 in one of their best periods of the season to date.

Colorado’s struggles to play with the lead showed once again as Eric Gelinas fumbled the puck and Vinnie Hinostroza gathered it in and got behind Gelinas for a clean breakaway. Varlamov looked frozen in place the entire time and Hinostroza had zero issues scoring to tie the game at 4-4 just 5:10 into the third.

Hinostroza struck again just 3:11 later on a nice passing play that left him all alone in front of the net with Comeau trying to backcheck on him and just like that yet another third-period lead had evaporated for Colorado and they found themselves in the familiar position of playing from behind.

The Avs never really mounted a sustained comeback effort and Kero notched his second of the night into an empty net with 11 seconds remaining to bring the game to its final score, 6-4.

THREE STARS

1. Vince Hinostroza
2. Matt Duchene
3. Tanner Kero

PLAY OF THE GAME

Duchene’s second goal was 100% speed and skill. When he makes plays like that, you wonder why there isn’t more of that on a regular basis.

TURNING POINT

The Hinostroza goals in the third period changed the game from one in which the Avalanche had played well, scored a handful of goals, and were looking at a potential regular win for the first time since early December to just another disappointing loss at the Pepsi Center.

BY THE NUMBERS

WHAT’S NEXT

Colorado hits the road to take on the Anaheim Ducks Thursday night. Puck drop is scheduled for 8 p.m. MST.