The Blackhawks were playing at home, coming off back to back shutouts, against a team at the bottom of their own division.
Talk about a trap game.
But you have to give full marks to the Colorado Avalanche who played well enough in front of Semyon Varlamov—who was, as usual versus Chicago, exceptional between the pipes. The Blackhawks did not play terribly, nor did they play particularly well. They put plenty of pressure on Varlamov, but you have to also credit the Avalanche defense, which seemed to do a nice job of collapsing down and protecting the house.
Conversely, the Avs' top line of Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Matt Duchene gave the Hawks problems much of the night, and forced Chicago to do a little running around in their end, which led to several quality chances and the Avs' first goal.
Speaking of running (or floating) around, it was hard to tell what Bryan Bickell was thinking on the Avs second goal when Zach Redmond came in unchallenged from the right point and blasted a wrister past Corey Crawford.
The big news was the end of Patrick Kane's 26-game point streak. The subtle reminder is, even though the Blackhawks have been playing better of late, they still have some work to do on and off the ice.
Too early to provide a verdict on newly-acquired defenseman Rob Scuderi, 12;26 TOI, -1, 1 blocked shot.
I am hoping to have a more in-depth blog on the Hawk blueline later this week, and an Oilers preview (another game the Hawks can't take lightly) tomorrow.
JJ