The Colorado Avalanche didn’t just beat the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday. They answered just about everything Chicago threw at them.
Down 2-0 early at United Center, Colorado steadied itself, erased the deficit before the first intermission and rolled to a 5-2 win that snapped the feel of a road trip that badly needed a reset. The response came on the scoreboard, on the power play, and in the way the Avalanche handled a dangerous hit on Cale Makar.
Nazem Kadri and Jaden Schwartz each scored twice, Devon Toews added an empty-net goal, and rookie forward T.J. Hughes picked up two assists for the first multi-point game of his career.
Toews also finished with an assist. In net, Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 21 shots, earned his sixth win in seven games and helped Colorado win its third straight.
He is now 8-3-0 and tied for third in the NHL in wins.
Chicago got the jump just 57 seconds into the game when a bounce went its way and Wyatt Kaiser was credited with the opening goal after his shot deflected off Makar and past Blackwood. The Blackhawks made it 2-0 at 7:05 on a two-on-one, with Kadri’s turnover leading to Roman Kantserov finishing a setup from Connor Bedard.
Colorado’s push started from there, even if one early breakthrough was wiped away. Martin Necas appeared to cut the deficit in half with just over six minutes left in the period, but Chicago head coach Jeff Blashill challenged for goaltender interference and won the review.
Landeskog was in front of the crease, taking away Spencer Knight’s vision, and after Necas’ redirection headed toward the net, Landeskog’s arm made contact with Knight. The goal came back.
The Avalanche didn’t let that linger. Within 2:27 of the overturned call, Kadri and Schwartz scored in quick succession to tie it 2-2 before the first intermission. From there, Colorado took over.
Kadri put the Avalanche ahead on a power-play redirection off a point shot from Makar, giving him his 100th career power-play goal. Schwartz then struck again with 11 seconds left in the period to make it 4-2. Toews sealed it with an empty-netter at 17:38 of the third.
Colorado went 1-for-5 on the power play and was perfect on the penalty kill, going 4-for-4.
The other big moment came when Artyom Levshunov caught Makar up high with an elbow. Necas immediately jumped in to stick up for his teammate, and Gabriel Landeskog, among others, made sure Levshunov felt the pushback as the game went on. Necas, busted lip and all, didn’t hesitate.
That was the kind of response Colorado needed. And it came in every direction.
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