After absorbing their second four-goal road loss in the past month, the Colorado Avalanche will aim to build upon their NHL-best home record on Monday when they take on the Chicago Blackhawks in Denver.
Colorado is 23-6-0 at Ball Arena compared to 14-14-5 anywhere else. Poor puck movement and lack of possession added up during Saturday’s 5-1 loss in Nashville, the Avalanche’s third setback in their past four road games.
“(Our play) slid more and more as the game went on,” Colorado forward Logan O’Connor said. “The puck became like a hand grenade for us. When that happens, you have to support one another and be closer, but I felt like we were more spread out. The result can be what you … saw, and that’s a sloppy, sloppy second half of the game for us.”
Colorado’s goal: to avoid any lingering letdown, something the Blackhawks are currently experiencing.
After the visiting Avalanche routed the Blackhawks 5-0 on Thursday behind two goals and an assist from Zach Parise, Chicago coach Luke Richardson felt the club had a hangover during Saturday’s 5-2 home loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
“You can’t fold the tent with one disappointing loss against a really good team like Colorado, and then just disregard the structure of how we’re supposed to play,” Richardson said, adding that it was “just not a smart game.”
Against Columbus, Blackhawks goaltender Arvid Soderblom surrendered a goal in the opening minute of the first period following a turnover by defenseman Seth Jones on a night Chicago never led.
Philipp Kurashev and Ryan Donato each tallied a goal and an assist, but it wasn’t enough as Chicago lost for the sixth time in a row.
The Blackhawks come to Colorado in the midst of their second skid of at least six games this season.
“These young guys are hungry. They don’t like losing,” Donato said. “That’s a good thing. I think that’s the biggest thing I take away from it. That’s a bright spot in the future is how sick of losing these guys are.”
Chicago will try to salvage a four-game regular-season-series split with the Avalanche, who have outscored the Blackhawks 9-0 in their two victories sandwiching a 3-2 road loss in December.
Colorado’s latest road defeat wasn’t nearly as close. Nashville, which won its eighth straight game to move within seven points of the Avalanche for third place in the Central Division, scored four unanswered goals to close the game.
Nathan MacKinnon scored the lone Colorado goal to stretch his point streak to nine games.
The Avalanche know they must remedy their issues with the puck going forward.
“I feel like we threw a lot of pucks away into open ice, vacated areas too soon as forwards and didn’t make smart plays through the middle of the ice,” O’Connor said. “When that happens, turnovers are the result. In this league, it’s pretty quick for a team to grab a turnover and put it in the back of the net or create a great opportunity.”
Monday marks the start of a three-game road trip for the Blackhawks and a three-game homestand for the Avalanche.
–Field Level Media
