Blackhawks-Avalanche Preview
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Chicago Blackhawks rode one of the league's best power-play units to snap a scoring slump and earn a much-needed victory to start a brief road swing.
The Colorado Avalanche also used a big game with the man advantage to keep up their rapid scoring pace, and they'll look to win a fifth straight meeting with the Blackhawks on Thursday night.
Chicago (21-13-4) entered the holiday break after a lackluster 4-0 loss at Dallas on Dec. 22 and returned Tuesday with a 2-1 home defeat to Carolina, scoring only a meaningless goal with less than three seconds remaining.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Blackhawks then faced back-to-back road games to end 2015 but snapped out of their funk with a 7-5 win over Arizona on Tuesday, capitalizing on all three of their power-play opportunities in the first period.
Duncan Keith, Artem Anisimov and rookie Artemi Panarin had those goals, Andrew Desjardins scored twice and Patrick Kane finished with a goal and two assists to give him an NHL-high 53 points.
Chicago ranks among the league leaders in power-play conversion rate at 23.3 percent and is 8-2-1 when getting at least four chances, scoring in 10 of those games and converting 15 times. It had gone 1 for 11 over its previous six games before going 3 for 4 on Tuesday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}''The last few games we haven't had very many (power-play) opportunities, so sometimes you get out of sync,'' Kane said. ''We have two good units right now and a lot of depth. If one unit doesn't get it started, the other one wants to get out there for a chance to cash in."
Kane had his franchise-record 26-game point streak snapped as the Blackhawks failed on both power-play chances in a 3-0 home loss to Colorado on Dec. 15. They've been outscored 12-3 during a four-game losing streak to the Avalanche (18-17-2), who have scored at least three goals six times during a 6-1-1 stretch.
They went 4 for 6 on the power play and tied their season high for goals in Monday's 6-3 win over San Jose. Nathan MacKinnon notched his second career hat trick, ending a month-long drought without a goal.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Tough slump obviously with 14 games. They come in bunches sometimes," MacKinnon said. "We've been struggling a little bit (on the power play). Hopefully it gives us some confidence."
Matt Duchene also scored for the Avalanche, who try to head into 2016 on a roll and continue inching toward playoff position. They're sitting second-to-last in the Central Division after missing the playoffs last season.
"We're creeping up on Nashville, and we want to get in a playoff spot as soon as possible and never look back," said Duchene, who scored in the first meeting with Chicago.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Semyon Varlamov should be back in net after Calvin Pickard made 35 saves Monday. Varlamov has a 1.68 goals-against average over his last 10, including a 29-save shutout against the Blackhawks. He's won his last seven starts versus Chicago with a 1.27 GAA.
The Blackhawks could go with Corey Crawford again despite him having a 3.51 GAA over his last four. Crawford, 3-7-2 with a 3.20 GAA against the Avalanche since the 2011-12 season, allowed three goals in the third Tuesday to make things interesting.
"We made it exciting in the end," coach Joel Quenneville said. "We haven't had a lead like that all year, but we have to play the right way when we get it. Hopefully it will happen again."