Eurolanche

Hinostroza paces Blackhawks past Avs

Rookie Vinnie Hinostroza scored two third-period goals 3:01 apart to help the Chicago Blackhawks defeat the Colorado Avalanche 6-4 at Pepsi Center on Tuesday.

Hinostroza's fellow rookies also contributed. Tanner Kero, who scored an empty-net goal with 10.6 seconds remaining, had two goals and an assist. Nick Schmaltz, who was recalled Saturday from Rockford of the American Hockey League, had a goal and an assist.

"We're talking about secondary scoring, and tonight they produced all the goals," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "It was a fun night for them. It was certainly a great third period and comeback for us."

Hinostroza scored on a breakaway to tie the game 4-4 at 5:10, and he went to the net to redirect Kero's pass behind goalie Semyon Varlamov at 8:11 for a 5-4 lead.

"We came out in the third and everyone was flying," said Hinostroza, who has six goals. "I got a bounce there on the breakaway and I was trying to use my speed and luckily it went in."

The Blackhawks (28-14-5) had lost two consecutive games while outscored 9-2.

"It feels good, especially after the two losses we just had," Hinostroza said. "To come in here and come from behind and win, and the younger guys to chip in, it's nice."

Matt Duchene scored his 14th and 15th goals for the Avalanche (13-28-1), who completed a four-game homestand 1-3-0 and are 1-12-1 in the past 14 at home. They've lost two in a row after taking a lead into the third period.

"We're doing a good job getting the lead, at least we're getting the lead, we're not getting blown out, not letting a lot of things go off the rails," said Duchene, who had one goal in the previous 13 games. "Our next step as a team is trying to finish out these games. It [stinks] right now. We're losing so much, it's so hard."

Duchene gave the Avalanche a 4-3 lead at 14:08 of the second period when he skated along the goal line and shot under goalie Corey Crawford's right arm.

"I thought we had a pretty good start in the first period and then we got away from it a little bit in the second," Kero said. "We let them into it and then they took over. We got back to our game in the third and were harder on pucks and all over the ice."

The Blackhawks took a 2-1 lead in the first period when Schmaltz and Brent Seabrook sandwiched goals around one by Duchene.

Schmaltz scored from the slot at 2:38 for his second goal, but the Avalanche tied it 1-1 when Duchene deflected in Nathan MacKinnon's wrist shot on a power play at 7:39. The Avalanche were 3-for-53 on power plays in the previous 14 games. 

The Blackhawks regained the lead 2-1 at 12:50 when Seabrook's shot from the blue line went in off Avalanche forward Joe Colborne for his third goal.

The Avalanche tied it 2-2 on Blake Comeau's shot from the left circle at 9:03 of the second period for his seventh goal, and Matt Nieto scored his first at 10:06 for a 3-2 lead.

The Blackhawks came back to make it 3-3 at 10:25 when Kero chipped the puck by Varlamov's glove for his second goal.

Quenneville said he considered replacing Crawford, who gave up three goals on eight shots in the second period and ended with 19 saves.

"I think he understands he can do better," Quenneville said. "I liked how he battled through it."

-- by Rick Sadowski for NHL.com --