A couple of breakdowns early Tuesday night and discipline problems late cost the Colorado Avalanche a winnable game in Chicago.
Tyler Johnson scored a power-play goal at 8:19 of the third period after back-to-back penalties on the Avs to propel the last-place Blackhawks to a 3-2 win at United Center.
Miles Wood, who was in the penalty box when Johnson scored, was angry with the call and ended up picking up an another minor penalty plus a 10-minute misconduct. The Avs took another questionable penalty in the final minute while trying to find a tying goal.
Valeri Nichushkin scored a pair of goals for the Avalanche, but this will be one that got away. Chicago goalie Petr Mrazek made 35 saves, including 12 in the final period.
1. Nichushkin is one of the hottest goal scorers in the NHL, and he’s now on pace for 40 this season. He had one goal through 11 games to start this season. Then his wife, Svetlana, gave birth to Anna, the couple’s first child, Nov. 8. He now has 14 goals in the 19 contests he’s played in since. That’s tied for the most in the NHL since Nov. 9.
His nine power-play goals since Nov. 8 are comfortably the most in the league. Both of his goals Tuesday night came in the heart of the high-danger area in front of the Chicago net. Jonathan Drouin found him in the slot for a one-timer on the first goal, and then Nichushkin put in his own rebound after a Mikko Rantanen feed for the second.
2. Nathan MacKinnon had an assist on Nichushkin’s first goal, playing catch with Drouin before the decisive pass. He now has at least one point in 16 straight games. That is a career high. He’s now four shy of Paul Stastny’s franchise record.
3. Alexandar Georgiev allowed goals on two of the first three shots he faced, and then he got rolling. The Avs dominated the early part of this game, but between the latter stages of the first period and first part of the second, Georgiev had to make a handful of great saves to keep this game tied at 2-2. He didn’t have much of a chance after the structural failure in front of him on the game-winner.
4. One of the players who had several of those great chances was Chicago rookie Connor Bedard. The Avs shut the phenom down in their first meeting — he didn’t record a shot attempt. That did not happen Tuesday night. Bedard assisted on Chicago’s first two goals and had a team-high six shots on goal. He was easily the most impactful offensive player for the Hawks.
5. Cale Makar missed his third straight game because of a lower-body injury. Avs coach Jared Bednar said Makar would travel to Chicago with the club after the game Sunday night but told reporters Tuesday morning that there was a change of plans. Both Makar and Andrew Cogliano stayed behind for the one-game trip.
If Makar is able to play 75 games this season, he might be the best bet to win one of the major awards (the Norris Trophy) outside of Bedard being a heavy favorite to collect the Calder Trophy. The issue is Makar has now missed five of the 32 games so far, which means he’d need to play 48 of the final 50 to get to 75. Could he win the award with fewer games played? Sure, but the fewer he plays, the dicier it’s going to get.
The Avs — and Makar — care far more about getting him back to 100% and not having this ailment linger into the second half of the season than trying to make sure he doesn’t miss too many games for awards purposes.
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