Disappointing start for the Blackhawks in Colorado
The Blackhawks could have used a win right about now. The Stanley Cup winners started the title defence in Colorado against the Avalanches. They lost the game 3 – 4 in overtime to the delight of Colorado’s 18,000 fans in attendance.
Chicago had been revamped since their cup run due to the Salary Cap but even without some of their core players the Blackhawks tried to stay optimistic about their chances. Pauls Stastny’s overtime goal in tonight’s game was an unwelcomed reminder of the
challenge that the Blackhawks are facing. Chicago is still not going down without a fight. “Every year you go into a new year looking forward and excited about what lies ahead and it's definitely going to be a new challenge this year, new group of guys,” defenseman
Duncan Keith said. “But we're all excited.”
The Blackhawks were on the offensive right from the start and did not waste opportunities. The first chance they got the Blackhawks put the puck in the net. In the third minute a two minutes penalty on Colorado centre Mark Olver gave Chicago a one man advantage.
Forwards Troy Brouwer and Marian Hossa worked together to assist Bryan Bickell in the 4th and set him up for a wrist shot he was able to score off. Bickell shot the puck from the right circle on the glove side of Colorado goaltender Craig Anderson.
However, after the first goal the Blackhawks fell of their game. Colorado gave up two more penalties in the period but Chicago was not able to capitalize. They might not have made the best use of the later power plays but at least the blackhawks didn’t concede
penalties of their own in the first quarter. After the first goal Colorado ramped up their offense. They took 15 shots on goal in the period against 11 from Chicago. Their offense finally came through with the equalizer in the 16th minutes. The
Avalanches put hits on defenseman Nick Leddy and winger Viktor Stalberg. The hit on Leddy caused him to lose the puck paving the way for Chris Stewart goal off a wrist shot to beat Marty Turco.
The teams went into the second period with scores levelled. Colorado edged into the lead in the 6th minute of the second quarter. Centre Ryan O’Reilly blocked Chicago’s winger Patrick Kane and cleared the puck in their defensive zone and defenseman
Kyle Cumiskey and Adam Foote made the assist for Avalanches centre Matt Duchene who tipped it into the net.
Almost 7 minutes later Blackhawks conceded another goal, the first off a power play to the Avalanches. Tripping penalty in the 13th minute gave Colorado the advantage in numbers. John-Michael Liles was at first blocked by Chicago’s Niklas Hjalmarsson
but he was still able to make the assist for Paul Stastny who was able to beat Turco for the third time in the game. Chicago trailed by two goals with just over six minutes remaining in the second period. Time enough for one goal from the Blackhawks.
Defenseman Duncan Keith moved the puck onto Colorado’s side where winger Patrick Sharp and Tomas Kopecky set up Marian Hossa to score the second goal for the Blackhawks. Both sides took 11 shots on goal in the second period which saw 5 power plays in all,
two for Colorado and three for Chicago. The Blackhawks comeback in the game was slow. After Hossa’s 18th minute second period the next goal came in the 10th minute of the third period. Chicago scored their first power play goal after
Cumiskey’s holding penalty half way through the 3rd. Winger Patrick Sharp scored the goal and levelled the scores at 3 goals. A total 28 shots were taken on goal in the third period. Craig Anderson stopped 13 of them but was unable to stop one during
a powerplay while Turco did not let a single one through.
The game went into overtime and 3 minutes later Paul Stastny scored his second and game winning goal for the Avalanches with assists from Duchene and Liles. “It hits me twice and goes into the back of the net. It's pretty disappointing after the way we fought
back,” Turco said regarding the final game winning goal.
Though the Blackhawks lost the game they weren’t disheartened. Chicago’s captain Jonathan Teows said that they made mistakes that cost them the game. “We know we're a good enough team to go out there and as long as we limit our mistakes and we work hard
enough we should give ourselves a chance to win.”
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