CHICAGO — With a third point awarded in some NHL games for losses in overtime and in shootouts, and a third column for them in the standings, it creates an optical illusion.
Coaches — as Patrick Roy often did when he was behind the Colorado bench — talk about a record along the lines of 8-8-3, or eight wins in 19 games, as “.500 hockey.”
Because all of the Colorado’s games so far have been decided in regulation, the record is straightforward — and unimpressive.
After a 4-0 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center on Thursday, the Avalanche, at 4-5, was a sub-.500 hockey team.
Marian Hossa had two goals for the Blackhawks, Artemi Panarin had a goal and an assist, and goalie Corey Crawford finished with 38 saves and was particularly larcenous in the later stages of the second period, when the Avalanche threatened to make a game of it.
Crawford has allowed only one goal in his last three starts.
“I thought we carried the bulk of the play tonight,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said after his team outshot the Blackhawks 38-21. “But when we made a mistake, or they created a chance with their skill, they scored on it. And we didn’t. We had plenty of scoring chances. We didn’t score on them. That’s the difference tonight for me.”
More important than any number or analytic is the eye test. With the exception of a win at Arizona on Saturday, the Avalanche has looked bad in the past two weeks, losing four of five. And at one point in the third period, goalie Semyon Varlamov had faced only two shots in the period and allowed two goals. They were prime chances for the Blackhawks after an Avalanche bad change and a turnover, but Varlamov didn’t step up to save the Avs — or the shots — either, and Hossa got his second goal of the game and Artemi Panarin tacked on the fourth goal.
“Their goalie was great and ours has to be better,” Bednar said.
In seven games in the Avalanche net, Varlamov has a 3.30 goals-against average and his .891 save percentage is below the Astrom Line. The goals-against is 52nd among the 68 NHL goaltenders who have played at least one game, and his save percentage is 53rd.
It was the third time the Avalanche has been shut out this season, and the three have come in the last seven games. Bednar shuffled his lines midway through the third period in an attempt to get something going, putting Matt Duchene — who has been playing center of late — back at wing, with center Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen.
Duchene had three of the Avalanche shots.
“We did some good things, had some chances,” Duchene said. “(Crawford) played well, he’s obviously a great goalie. They made some great plays, but there obviously are some mistakes we can fix. I think at times, we’re too quick with the puck or we’re having brain cramps with the puck. I think we can be a lot better creating offense like that and on the rush.”
He said of going back to wing, and playing with MacKinnon: “We got some really good looks. Mikko was flying. If we stay together, I think we can be a good line.”
MacKinnon’s scoring frustration continued, and his only goal this season came in the wild opening-night win over Dallas.
“You can see (Crawford) was good tonight,” MacKinnon said. “I thought we generated a ton of chances, but just couldn’t get it past him. It’s up to us to finish. We have to be better than that in that area. I’d be more worried if we weren’t getting any chances. It’s got to go in eventually.”
With a World Series Game 7 hangover still lingering in Chicagoland, the Blackhawks took a 2-0 lead with goals 38 seconds apart late in the first period. First, Varlamov failed to control Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith’s shot, and Jonathan Toews pounced on the rebound and lifted the puck past the Russian goalie at 14:25 of the first. Then it was 2-0 at 15:03 after Hossa broke in with Avalanche defenseman Fedor Tyutin a half step back, and beat Varlamov high to the glove side.
The Avs showed signs of life after that, but in the third period got caught in a bad change and a Keith pass sprung Hossa, who again got the puck past Varlamov’s glove to make it 3-0. Then off a Tyson Barrie turnover, Patrick Kane’s backhanded pass set up Panarin for an easy tap-in, and it was 4-0.
Barrie was on for three of the Blackhawks’ goals and was paired for much of the night with Fedor Tyutin in Tyutin’s return to the lineup after he missed three games with a groin injury.
“The chances they got were Grade-A chances,” Barrie said. “They’re good players and they made us pay for it. It was frustrating because we played a good game, just a couple of mistakes there and there.”
The Avalanche was 0-3 on the power play, getting a total of five shots with the manpower advantage.
“Our power play’s got to get one tonight,” said Barrie.
“You saw it,” defenseman Erik Johnson said. “Those are the mistakes that end up in the back of your net.”
The Avalanche isn’t practicing Friday, one of the four mandatory days off per month under the collective bargaining agreement, and will face Minnesota at home in a 1 p.m. matinee Saturday.
