Varly's 54 saves lead Avs past Hawks
The official game recap Chicago Blackhawks vs Colorado Avalanche.Semyon Varlamov made 54 saves to lead the Colorado Avalanche to a 2-0 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Tuesday.
It was the first time the Blackhawks faced Varlamov this season; Calvin Pickard started the previous two games won by Chicago.
Despite his numbers sagging from his outstanding season a year ago, Varlamov posted a carbon-copy performance of those games against the Blackhawks.
Once again, Chicago (26-12-2) lost despite holding a wide advantage in shots (54-24). Last season, the Blackhawks out-shot Colorado by margins of 39-29, 38-21, 48-26 and 37-23 in their four losses.
The Avalanche (16-16-8) got all the scoring they needed in the first 1:17 of the game. Nathan MacKinnon made it 1-0 at 53 seconds and set up a goal by Maxime Talbot 24 seconds later for a two-goal lead.
MacKinnon scored high to the short side off a rebound of John Mitchell's shot from the slot 53 seconds into the game. Talbot's goal, which trickled under Chicago goalie Corey Crawford at 1:17, capped an impressive rush in which MacKinnon blew past Blackhawks defensemen Johnny Oduya and Niklas Hjalmarsson. After collecting the puck, he slid a short pass to Talbot for the close-range shot.
It was the sixth straight time Chicago allowed the first goal. The Blackhawks are 3-3-0 in those games, but they've yielded 12 goals in the opening period.
Like the majority of those games, Chicago refused to wilt. The Blackhawks outshot the Avalanche 17-11 in the first period and 21-5 in the second, aided by two unsuccessful power plays. Varlamov kept the puck out of the net with some nice saves, but also had some good fortune during a power play in the second.
Following a point shot by center Brad Richards, Blackhawks forward Bryan Bickell missed a wide opening behind Varlmov with a backhand shot off the rebound. Forward Brandon Saad hit the left goal post 11 seconds into the third with a backhand Varlamov didn't see, but it was another missed opportunity. They continued to press the rest of the third, but Varlamov didn't crack.
Saad appeared to score with 2:37 left after Varlamov trapped a point shot by defenseman David Rundblad between the pads, but the play was blown dead before he poked the puck into the net.
-- by Brian Hedger for NHL.com --
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07/01/2015 - 05:26
