Bad Start Buries Blackhawks

photo from milehighmaniac.com

It took less than a minute for Colorado to score the game winning goal last night. Twenty four seconds later, they added an insurance goal. Fifty four shots on Semyon Varlamov later, the Blackhawks have nothing to show for it, and that's game, folks.


A minute and seventeen seconds into the first period, the Avalanche had a 2-0 lead based on first a defensive gaffe from Johnny Oduya, and then a fumble from Corey Crawford after the initial save on a 2 on 0 (again a defensive breakdown from Oduya). The Blackhawks spent the rest of the game outshooting Colorado 54 to 24, but apparently the Avalanche brought 2013 Varlamov to play, not the Varlamov of this season.

Corey Crawford needs to stop letting in the first, second or third shots of the game. This happened earlier in the season, when the Blackhawks were struggling to score goals, and it buried them then, too, shutouts at home from Winnipeg and Anaheim (this game especially felt like the Winnipeg game, where they got an early lead two minutes in and just sat on it for the next fifty eight minutes). The Blackhawks, right now, need Corey Crawford to be better.

Defence was, generally speaking, better than it's been recently. They held the Avalanche to only twenty four shots, and besides the Oduya fumbles early in the game, they generally didn't allow too many odd man rushes, just a Jarome Iginla breakaway and the 2-0 goal.

The forwards looked good too, the Toews line looking especially dangerous for long periods of time, despite the ill advised penalty near the end of the third period. The penalty kill is back up over 90%, with only eleven power play goals allowed in 111 attempts so far this season. The power play was unsuccessful this game, dropping them to sixteenth in the league.

My Three Stars of the Game

3.  Corey Crawford. Ironically, this was probably Crawford's best game in a few games. Minus the fumble on the second goal, he was solid, and the goals were mostly a result of defensive breakdowns. The Blackhawks need him to be better than he's playing, but after allowing goals on the second and third shots of the game, he didn't let it phase him. He had a .917 save percentage, his second best since his return from injury (he had a .920 in his last game against Colorado).

2.  Semyon Varlamov.  He made fifty four saves for his third shutout of the season, and set an NHL record for most saves during a shutout on the road. His play's been shaky this season, and he's been out a lot due to injury, but this was his first solid game in a while, and he played well.

1. Nathan Mackinnon. Mackinnon scored the game winner less than a minute in, and basically scored the 2-0 goal too, although it eventually ended up being credited to Maxime Talbot. Not bad for his opening shift of the game.

Next game: January 8th, vs. Wild