Tonight’s 3-1 loss by the Colorado Avalanche to the Chicago Blackhawks is going to trigger a rash of overreaction because losing to the worst team in the NHL is never a good sign. Before getting into why it was so bad, I’d just remind everyone the Avs were 7-0-1 in their last eight games before tonight.

The Avs dominated play throughout the game but couldn’t solve Petr Mrazek, who slammed the door shut to the tune of 35 saves on 36 shots. Conversely, Trent Miner’s first NHL start will forever be memorable but allowing three goals on 20 shots won’t be his favorite part of that story.

As the Avs put out a mediocre effort tonight, I’m not going to deep-dive this one until tomorrow morning.

Let’s talk about it.

Juuso Parssinen had his best game as an Av

Parssinen played his fifth game in an Avs uniform tonight and it was easily his best. We saw a player more comfortable with what is being asked of him and as a result, we saw what a more confident version of the player looks like.

Parssinen scored Colorado’s lone goal with an end-to-end rush that resulted in him beating Mrazek over the shoulder with a slick backhand that I didn’t know he had in the bag. The skating and finishing ability on display during that goal were precisely the skills the Avs valued when they made the trade for him. He nearly scored another during Colorado’s lengthy 6v5 attack.

There’s plenty to be encouraged about with the early returns of Parssinen and the hope is obviously that his role can continue to grow as he settles in even more. Lord knows the Avalanche need the depth scoring.

Avalanche stars went dark again

They could also use scoring from the top guys, too, all of a sudden. Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon, and Mikko Rantanen recorded zero combined points tonight and the trio has scored zero 5v5 points in the last three games.

The only points they’ve recorded were a power-play goal for Colorado’s only goal against Montreal and an empty-net goal against Florida before they were shutout tonight. That the Avs went 1-1-1 during that time is still a disappointment because of the quality of competition, but the elite trio’s worst game in that stretch was easily tonight.

MacKinnon was the only one of the three to even get a shot on goal as he recorded two while Makar and Rantanen got blanked. Rantanen only had three shot attempts all game while Makar at least had five, but neither of them could get a single one on net. That certainly made life easier for Mrazek.

There are always small stretches during the season when everyone struggles to score but because these three play so much together, when one is struggling, inevitably all three end up having a hard time recording points. When that happens, it gets a lot harder for the Avs to win games, especially given the non-stop injuries at forward this season (they were missing both Val Nichushkin and Jonathan Drouin tonight).

Regardless of the availability of other players, 34 of Colorado’s 36 shots on goal came from players outside of these three. That isn’t a formula for success for a team that relies so heavily on them to win.

Even just one goal would have greatly changed the dynamic of this game, especially when MacKinnon chose to pass the puck when Mrazek was out of the net and he didn’t want to shoot through a forest of bodies. The pass didn’t lead to anything and the Avs gave up the eventual game-winning goal on the other end moments later. That certainly stands out as a significant turning point in the game.

On the other side, Chicago’s lone superstar, Connor Bedard, outworked and outscored all of Colorado’s stars. He finished with a goal and assist and had another goal wiped off the board because he kicked the puck in, but that he was all over like that was especially dispiriting in the face of the power outage from Colorado’s big guys.

Power play bad (again)

Somehow, Chicago’s penalty kill has been excellent this season and that unit flexed against Colorado’s sagging power play. The Avs only had two chances with the man advantage but in a game that was a one-goal game for so much time, it’s not hard to see that a stronger effort could have changed how this game played out.

The power play in the third period was especially problematic. The Avs came out at the start of the third period down one goal and were buzzing. They were piling up shots and chances against Mrazek and it felt inevitable they would break through if they could keep it up.

Instead, the Avs got rolled, generating zero shot attempts and allowing a scoring chance (off a ghastly Casey Mittelstadt turnover) that was very close to being a shorthanded goal when Teuvo Teravainen hit the bottom of the crossbar. The Avs were fortunate it wasn’t a goal and instead of using their second chance to build into something better, they folded up shop and never made a meaningful push again.