Go figure: the Avalanche loses 4-1 to Florida, one of the worst teams in the NHL, and turns it around with a 5-1 win against Chicago, the defending Stanley Cup champions.
And the Avalanche managed to knock off the Blackhawks Tuesday night at the Pepsi Center without leading scorer Matt Duchene, who is sidelined with an oblique injury but might return to the lineup as early as Saturday in Los Angeles.
As impressive as this win was -- the Avalanche got goals from each of the revamped top three lines -- it wouldn't have happened without some exceptional work by goalie Semyon Varlamov. He made 17 of his 36 saves in the first period when the Avalanche grabbed a 3-0 lead on goals from Paul Stastny, Gabriel Landeskog and John Mitchell.
"Chicago is very dangerous," said Varlamov, who lost his shutout bid with 7:50 to play when Brandon Saad slipped a rebound between his pads. "They have some dangerous players. We lost three in a row and of course we were not happy, but we worked a lot in practice in how we were going to play defensively. Every team we play is tough to beat, so you have to be ready every game. You have to be sharp."
The Avalanche also got goals from PA Parenteau and Cody McLeod to improve to 9-3-0 at home and 15-5-0 overall heading into a two-game road trip that begins Thursday against Phoenix and ends Saturday against the Kings.
Avalanche coach Patrick Roy was surprised to learn that the 15 wins are the most through 20 games in franchise history. The previous best was 14 wins in 2000-01 (14-3-3) and in 1994-95 (14-4-2), the final season for the Quebec Nordiques. The Avalanche won 16 games in last year's lockout-shortened campaign.
"We're going to take it one day at a time and not try to look too far ahead," he said. "I thought we were really sharp. We scored some nice goals. It's funny because we never really talked about (the losing streak). We had to play a big game and come out strong. I thought that's what we did. It was a great team effort.
"I want to say one thing: there's a lot of things we can learn from Chicago, but at least one is they put a lot of shots on net. They shoot from everywhere and they're driving that net hard. It's something we can learn from."
The Blackhawks outshot the Avalanche 17-8 in the first period, when they had five shots during an early power play after Brad Malone, who was called up from Lake Erie on Monday, was penalized for boarding Andrew Shaw.
The Avalanche killed it off and grabbed a 1-0 lead at 6:37 when Stastny took advantage of a huge break. Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford cleared the puck to defenseman Brent Seabrook along the left-wing boards and he tried to ring it around the net, but it caromed up the slot to Stastny.
"We have played enough in this rink when you see that bounce, it might bounce off the post when it comes out to the middle or left," Stastny said. "I was just kind of anticipating it a little bit. You just try to take your time because you have so much time in the slot and I just kind of surprised him since he’s not set. The majority of the time if you have a good shot, it’s going to go in.
"We had a good first period and that's what home teams want to do, kind of feed off the crowd. There were a lot of Chicago fans here, so you kind of want to try and keep them quiet."
Landeskog and Mitchell scored 56 seconds apart to make it 3-0. Landeskog tipped defenseman Andre Benoit's shot by Crawford's glove at 12:21 and Max Talbot came from behind the net to set up Mitchell in front for a point-blank shot under Crawford's left arm at 13:17.
Talbot finished with two assists, his first points in nine games since his Oct. 31 acquisition from Philadelphia in exchange for Steve Downie.
Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville replaced Crawford, who faced seven shots, after Mitchell scored with Antti Raanta, who was called up Sunday from the Rockford IceHogs of the AHL and made his NHL debut.
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So did it mean more for the Avalanche to end its losing streak by defeating a quality team like the Blackhawks?
"It means a lot," Landeskog said. "We responded well. We knew they are one of the best teams in the league. We talked about playing with confidence and we have all the reasons in the world to stay confident. Even when Dutchie got hurt, it's not all about him. Matt is one player and we knew we had enough depth to play well and to win this game."
The Avalanche got at least one point from 10 players, at least one blocked shot from 11 players (Erik Johnson and Mitchell each had three), and the team outhit the Blackhawks 28-12. Nick Holden had six official hits and Jan Hejda had four.
Defenseman Tyson Barrie, who was summoned from Lake Erie on Sunday, had two assists, three shots and was plus-2 in 18:45 of ice time.
"I'm happy with the way I played," said Barrie, who ripped a shot from the right point that Raanta stopped before McLeod tapped in the rebound for a 5-0 lead at 1:44 of the third period. "I tried to be really good defensively and I think it's a good start for me. Any time I can jump in the play, that's been my game my whole life, so I'm still going to try to contribute offensively.
"I know they've talked to me about being hard to play against. Once I focus on that stuff, I think the offense will kind of take care of itself. Hopefully I can keep that going."
Malone played left wing on the fourth line with Marc-Andre Cliche and Patrick Bordeleau. He logged 10:36 in ice time, had one hit and an even plus/minus rating.
***** Stastny's goal, his eighth of the season, was the 143rd of his NHL career to move him past Dale Hunter into eighth place in franchise history. His assist on Parenteau's goal gave him 415 points and moved him past Valeri Kamensky into sole possession of eighth place on that list.
The three first-period goals were the most by the Avalanche in the first period this season and matched the season high for goals in any period (Oct. 2 against. Anaheim in the second period and Nov. 2 against. Montreal in the third period) ... The Avalanche is 13-0-0 when scoring first, 11-0-0 when leading after the first period and 13-0-0 when taking a lead into the third period.