Following two Chicago penalties with 9:16 left in regulation, the Avalanche scored twice on the power play and defeated the host Blackhawks 4-1 in front of the 307th consecutive sellout crowd at the United Center on Friday night.
Avs captain Gabe Landeskog scored on a 5-on-3 attack and Tyson Barrie struck 24 seconds later at 5-on-4 that broke open a 1-1 game. Landeskog scored in his fifth consecutive game, a career high.
“Our power play scored two big goals for us,” Avs coach Patrick Roy told reporters after the game. “Good things happen when you put pucks on net. I’ll say this, I’m very proud of our team. I’m happy tonight that we had a strong effort.”
The Avs made it 4-1 with 5:47 to go when Brad Stuart’s dump-in at the neutral-zone red line was inadvertently redirected in by Chicago goalie Cory Crawford.
Barrie also scored Colorado’s first goal 12:52 into the game with a wrist shot from the point.
“He’s just playing solid hockey,” Roy said of Barrie. “He was good defensively as he was offensively.”
Kris Versteeg tied it 9:05 into the second period before the Avs took over in the third after simultaneous interference penalties to Chicago’s Patrick Sharp and Niklas Hjalmarsson.
Avs goalie Semyon Varlamov had 27 saves in improving to 2-0 at Chicago. He made 54 saves in a 2-0 win at the Blackhawks on Jan. 6.
“We played a great game the other night vs. Detroit, hard-fought game both ways, and tonight we just fell off the horse,” Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews told reporters.
The teams have now split four games this season, as Colorado snapped Chicago’s seven-game points streak. The teams have one more meeting this season, April 11 at the Pepsi Center.
Mike Chambers: mchambers@denverpost.com or mikechambers
