Offensive Drought Continues as Blackhawks Fall 3-1 to Colorado

Game Summary

The Chicago Blackhawks fell 3-1 to the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night at Ball Arena, dropping to 22-28-9 on the season and completing a winless first two games back from the Olympic break. Connor Bedard gave Chicago an early lead with a power-play goal in the first period, but Cale Makar answered late in the second and Gavin Brindley put Colorado ahead for good early in the third. Makar added an empty-netter at 18:33 to seal it. The Avalanche improve to 39-10-9 and maintain the NHL's best record with 87 points.

Bedard converted at 6:31 of the first, taking a cross-ice feed from Tyler Bertuzzi in the right faceoff circle and beating Mackenzie Blackwood to the glove side for his 25th goal of the season. It was a clean sequence, and it was also, for long stretches, the only clean sequence Chicago could manage all night. The Blackhawks managed just nine shots through the first two periods — put another way, they averaged fewer than five shots per period for the first 40 minutes of a road game against the best team in the Western Conference. Spencer Knight held the 1-0 lead together through some uncomfortable stretches, finishing with 32 saves on 34 shots, but the math was never going to work in Chicago's favor.

Makar tied it at 19:51 of the second, five seconds after an Avalanche power play expired — MacKinnon launched a saucer pass across the ice to Makar at the right circle and he buried a snap shot to the far side. The Blackhawks went on the power play early in the third and had their best chance to retake the lead, including a Bedard slap shot that a sprawling Blackwood somehow gloved. Twenty-one seconds after the penalty expired, Brindley scooped up the rebound of a Sam Malinski point shot along Knight's right pad and lifted it over the sprawling goaltender. Knight came off for an extra skater with 2:05 left and Makar finished things with his 17th of the season into the empty net. Colorado outshot Chicago 35-15 on the night and won 60 percent of faceoffs. "We need more depth scoring, for sure," coach Jeff Blashill said. "We were close to having a lot of chances, and we just didn't handle the puck great. Like we could have had probably three or four 3-on-1s, and we just kind of mishandled them."

Three Stars

Two Games Back from the Break

The Hawks went 0-2 in their first two games back from the Olympic break — a 4-2 loss in Nashville on Thursday followed by Saturday's defeat in Denver. The Nashville game at least had some encouraging elements: Chicago led 2-1 heading into the final 17 minutes, won the faceoff battle, and drew five power play opportunities. The collapse in the third — three unanswered goals — was demoralizing, but the effort wasn't the issue. Saturday offered fewer reasons for optimism. Against the best team in the NHL, the Blackhawks generated nine shots in 40 minutes, had their power play opportunity in the third evaporate without converting, and watched Brindley's rebound goal — the sequence that broke it open — come just 21 seconds after the penalty kill ended.

The common thread across both games is a roster that simply can't support Bedard. Nick Foligno said it plainly after Saturday's loss: "We got to help him, obviously. I mean, it can't just be on Connor. He's doing his job. He's getting scoring chances. He's making plays. I mean, he could've had five tonight. So it's on the rest of us to pick it up." Bedard scored in Nashville and scored again Saturday — his 25th of the season — and came within a sprawling Blackwood glove save of multiple goals in Denver. That has been the season in miniature: Bedard doing his part, everyone else not doing quite enough. The Blackhawks have scored just two goals in two games coming out of the break, and the post-Olympic stretch has only sharpened the questions that have been following this team since January.

Looking Ahead

Chicago doesn't have time to dwell on the Denver result. The Blackhawks wrap up their post-Olympic road trip Sunday in Salt Lake City against the Utah Mammoth, with puck drop at 3:00 p.m. CT on ESPN+. Utah enters at 31-24-4 with 66 points, sitting fourth in the Central Division. The Mammoth lost to Colorado 4-2 just three days ago, so they'll be looking for a bounce-back of their own.

If Saturday night taught Chicago anything, it's that the margin for sloppiness on the road is zero. The 16 giveaways in Denver didn't cost the Blackhawks as much as they could have against a team like Colorado, but against Utah they'll need to be tighter — and they'll need offensive contributions beyond Bedard. The power play went 1-for-5 on Saturday after converting once in five chances Thursday. Two games in, it remains the team's most inconsistent weapon. Cleaning that up, and getting Blashill's secondary scorers involved, are the two variables that could make Sunday's result look different.