Varlamov stops 36 shots, Avs beat Hawks
The official game recap Chicago Blackhawks vs Colorado Avalanche.The Colorado Avalanche continue to give the defending Stanley Cup champions headaches.
Semyon Varlamov made 36 saves, and defenseman Tyson Barrie scored the game-winner on the power play with 7:10 left in the third period to give the Avalanche a 4-2 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday in the first game at United Center since Jan. 26.
Maxime Talbot, Ryan O'Reilly and Paul Stastny also scored for Colorado (40-17-5), which improved to 3-1-0 against Chicago (36-13-14) with one game left in the season series. The win Tuesday moved Colorado within a point of Chicago in the Central Division.
Varlamov improved to 31-11-5 and was sharp for most of the game. He needed to be with the Blackhawks outshooting the Avalanche by a 38-21 margin. It was the second straight game between the teams in which Chicago lost despite a lopsided advantage in shots.
Ben Smith and Jonathan Toews scored for the Blackhawks, who've lost three of their past four games with 19 left in the regular season. Corey Crawford, whose regular pads were apparently stolen this past weekend at Soldier Field, where they played the Pittsburgh Penguins to complete the 2014 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series, stopped 17 shots in the loss.
Barrie's goal came off a power play on Johnny Oduya's interference penalty behind the net. Erik Johnson slid Barrie a pass from the high slot to the left circle, and the defenseman blasted it past Crawford for his ninth goal.
Chicago couldn't get the equalizer despite a late push, and Stastny sealed it when he scored his 20th goal into an empty net with 33 seconds left.
The Blackhawks controlled the play and the puck early in the game, but had nothing to show for it in a game that remained scoreless at the first intermission. They held a commanding 11-3 advantage in shots at that point and also attempted 20 shots to just six by the Avalanche.
Varlamov was the difference.
Just as he did in Colorado's 3-2 overtime victory Jan. 14 in Chicago (46 saves), Varlamov was outstanding in the early going. He stopped a few good scoring chances among the Blackhawks' shots in the first, including a pair of impressive saves with the right pad within the game's first five minutes.
The first denied Peter Regin a goal off an open backhand attempt from close range at 2:09, and the second turned away a snap shot two minutes later by Patrick Sharp off a nice hustle play by Toews to set it up.
Varlamov also keyed a pair of successful penalty kills in the first to keep the game scoreless entering the second. It didn't take long for his teammates to reward the effort.
Talbot made it 1-0 with his seventh goal, which he scored 2:49 into the second by redirecting a long wrist shot from Johnson through Crawford's pads. Aside from the lead, it gave the Avalanche more life in their legs and more time with the puck on their sticks.
Colorado started to show why it came into the game with a 30-1-3 record in games in which it scored the first goal and was 30-0-2 when leading after 40 minutes.
While Varlamov stymied a couple more good scoring chances, the Avalanche used the momentum swing from Talbot's goal to cut into Chicago's shots advantage. They just couldn't beat Crawford again before Smith tied it 1-1 with 3:08 left in the second on his eighth goal.
Smith rewarded Chicago's fourth line for a good shift by peeling the puck off the boards after a short pass from Brandon Bollig and wheeling to the slot for a wrist shot he ripped past Varlamov.
That's how it stayed to start the third, but again Colorado scored quickly to retake the lead on O'Reilly's 24th goal, which he put between Crawford's pads 1:23 into the period.
The scoring chance was set up by a great cross-ice pass from Matt Duchene to O'Reilly's stick in the neutral zone, springing O'Reilly into the offensive zone for an uncontested shot from the right circle.
Chicago only needed about six minutes to tie the score 2-2. Toews scored his 22nd goal on the power play at 7:17, a beauty that capitalized on Colorado forward John Mitchell's broken stick.
After the puck came to Sharp at the left side of the crease, he feathered a pass to Toews on the other side for a shot the Chicago captain roofed over Varlamov. Mitchell, who was nearby, was powerless to defend without his stick.
Barrie made sure Toews' goal didn't cost his team a big point, continuing a trend of Avalanche defensemen contributing goals. Colorado got four goals from its defensemen in a 6-3 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday.
Chicago and Colorado will conclude their season series March 12 at Pepsi Center.
-- by Brian Hedger for NHL.com --
Eurolanche.com, Worldwide, eurolanche@eurolanche.com
05/03/2014 - 05:00
