Claiming the No. 3 seed in the Central Division and a place in Playoffs in the Western Conference is well within reach of Colorado Avalanche.
The problem is that Colorado has struggled to distance themselves from opponents lately.
Avalanche (45-26-4, 94 points) enters Wednesday’s visit to the Chicago Blackhawks on a two-game losing line. After starting a four-game home gesture with multi-goal victories against Detroit and Los Angeles, Colorado fell with a goal to St. Louis and Calgary.
Monday’s loss for the flames looked the avalanche plant to a 2-0 advantage-only to give target 32 seconds apart halfway through the third period and allow the only shooting game.
“Can’t have it now, especially this time of year,” Colorado said forward Brock Nelson. “Closing games and winning games, that’s what it’s all about. So we know we can also close with how we can play. So it’s just about energy, focus.”
Chicago (21-44-9, 51 points) compiled the almost finally point in the NHL until Tuesday, but has frustrated the avalanche more often than not this season.
The Blackhawks rolled October 5-2 at Colorado and prevailed January 3-1 at Hemisen before Avalanche regrouped for a 3-0 victory on March 10. Scott Wedgewood published a 20-rescue closure for host Colorado.
The defeat marked the other in a seven-game losing line for the Blackhawks, which has then extended to 10 losses in 11 matches.
Chicago Blitzed Philadelphia 7-4 on March 23 to start a five-game home. Since then, the Blackhawks have been surpassed 15-8 by New Jersey, Vegas and Utah.
“There have been times during the last pairs of games where you see that we are doing some really good things,” said Blackhawks interim coach Anders Sorensen. “Then when we have a small hiccup, we have a hard time stopping it after that. But many young guys do many good things.”
Forward Oliver Moore and defender Sam Rinzel skated in their NHL debut Sunday. Rinzel was denied separate scores halfway through the second period of a 5-2 loss to Utah.
“As ‘Ollie’ said, as a hockey player, you want to win, so that Stings,” Rinzel said. “But overall it was an incredible first game.”
Colorado held a six-point edge on Minnesota and a seven-point pillow at St. Louis before the game started Tuesday. Avalanche has seven matches left.
Nathan MacKinnon continues to keep the avalanche afloat. He stretched his homecoming to 25 matches with an assist on Monday against Calgary and has collected points in two of his last three road games. He reached 110 points with Monday’s helpers and is only the 12th player in the league story to reach that threshold for three seasons in a row.
“He finds a way to chip in and create offensively. … I think that’s what amazing players do,” said lavine coach Jared Bednar. “They find a way to chip away, and when they get opportunities they tend to end them. And he has done it consistently.”
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