Blackhawks 0, Avalanche 3 — Three Stars, Key Takeaways

The first period came and went without a score. Well, it almost didn’t. It appeared the Avs took a 1-0 lead and Nathan MacKinnon picked up his 1,000th career point with an assist, but the Blackhawks challenged the play and it was ruled to be offside. Chicago was fortunate to be tied after 20 minutes because the Avs dominated the period. Natural Stat Trick had the shot attempts at 19-7 in favor of Colorado.

The Blackhawks pushed back pretty well in the second period. They got a 5-on-3 for 1:52 in the middle of the period and it was a momentum killer. Just a terrible power play. The structure wasn’t there at all. And the Avs rebounded from that with some energy. Scott Wedgewood made a couple ridiculous saves to keep the Blackhawks off the board, including one on Nick Foligno in the second that had the Blackhawks captain shaking his head. The Hawks out-shot the Avs 7-6 in the second period.

MacKinnon did reach the milestone with the second assist on Colorado’s first goal of the night 31 seconds into the third period. The Blackhawks started to scramble and the Avs took advantage, scoring a second goal less than three minutes later — with another assist from MacKinnon. Colorado’s third goal came into an empty net. For the first time this season the Blackhawks were shut out.

To be clear: Scott Wedgewood was the star of the game. He was incredible for Colorado.

Star 1: Spencer Knight

Once again: a star. Colorado came in on a five-game win streak during which they scored 28 goals (seven in each of their last two) but he didn’t give them anything. The first goal he allowed was off a nasty redirect by Artturi Lehkonen. The second was point blank from Martin Necas.

Star 2: the Young Defensemen

Down a defenseman early in the first period, the youngsters all had to step up — and they did. Ethan Del Mastro played poised, physical hockey. Wyatt Kaiser was winning board battles. Thru two periods, Kaiser had spent 6:33 on the ice at 5-on-5 against Nathan MacKinnon (Blackhawks team high) during which Chicago had an 8-6 shot attempt advantage. Alex Vlasic was playing smart hockey. And Artyom Levshunov was making things happen. Against a really good Colorado team, they didn’t blink. Of the four young defensemen, the lowest ice time in the game was 20:55 from Levshunov.

Star 3: Connor Bedard

Bedard was the most consistent offensive threat for the Blackhawks. He had six of the Blackhawks’ 21 shots on net.

Key Takeaways

Levshunov skated 5:59 in the first period. One an early shift, his stick got knocked out of his hands and he let Ross Colton know how he felt about the play. No lack of swagger for the kid to start his NHL career.
Thru two periods, Levshunov was at 12:19 with two shot attempts and one blocked shot. He got some power play time and looked dangerous.
In his NHL debut — at altitude, remember — Levshunov was the most dangerous offensive threat on the Blackhawks’ blue line. He led Chicago’s defensemen with three shots on net. He ended up skating over 20 minutes in the game and showed incredibly well. He was noticeable all night.

Alec Martinez, who started the game paired with Levshunov, skated only four shifts (3:23) in the first period before leaving with an injury (took a shot to the arm/hand area). He did not return.
Colton Dach played a really good, strong game. He only skated 9:13 thru two periods but was already credited with two hits, two takeaways, one blocked shot and one shot attempt.
Bedard and Ilya Mikheyev were each credited with two shots on goal in the first period. The rest of the Blackhawks roster had one. Thru two periods, Bedard and Mikheyev were credited with three shots each; the rest of the Blackhawks matched their six shots as a group.