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The Colorado Avalanche travel to Chicago to take on the Blackhawks tomorrow at 9:30 PM ET on TNT.
The Avalanche, 45-26-4 overall and 20-15-1 on the road, are en route to their eighth straight trip to the Stanley Cup playoffs. They’re currently third in the Central Division, behind two of the best teams in the NHL, the Winnipeg Jets and Dallas Stars. Although they’ve lost two straight, they’ve gone 6-2-2 in their last 10 games.
Colorado faces the Chicago Blackhawks, who will miss the playoffs for the fifth straight season and the seventh time in the past eight years. They are destined to finish dead last in the Central for the third consecutive year. The drop from prominence for Chicago, which won three Stanley Cups between 2010-15, has been precipitous. They are 21-44-9 overall and 14-20-4 at home. The team has lost three straight and 10-of-11 overall.
The Avalanche, who previously won the Stanley Cup in 2022, have lost 2-of-3 to their division foes this season, dropping a 5-2 decision at home in October and a 3-1 result at home in January. Colorado knocked off the Blackhawks at home last month, 3-1. They’re looking to even in the season series tomorrow night.
Let’s break down each team’s recent play while previewing this matchup and our Avalanche @ Blackhawks NHL pick.
The 2022 Stanley Cup champs are well on their way to an eighth straight playoff berth. Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar are again leading the way. MacKinnon, a seven-time All-Star and the 2023-24 Hart Trophy winner as the NHL’s MVP leads the league with 80 assists and 110 points. He had two assists in Colorado’s 3-2 shootout loss against the Calgary Flames on Monday.
Logan O’Connor and Cale Makar scored for the Avalanche in the losing effort, while Scott Wedgewood made 25 saves. MacKinnon scored the lone goal two nights earlier in a 2-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues, which snapped an 11-game win streak at home. Mackenzie Blackwood made 25 saves. The team is beginning a three-game road trip with this stop in Chicago tomorrow night.
Makar, a three-time All-Star, is in the running for his second Norris Trophy as the league’s top defenseman. His 85 points top all blueliners this season. His 28 goals have him just two tallies away from becoming just the ninth defenseman in NHL history with 30 goals and the first since the Washington Capitals Mike Green in 2008-09.
The Avalanche have allowed just two goals per game since the start of March. Blackwood has been stout in goal since he arrived from the San Jose Sharks in a trade in December. He is sixth in goals allowed (2.45) and fifth in save percentage (.916) this season but has been even better (2.16 GAA, .919 Save %) since joining the Avalanche.
It has been another dismal season for the Blackhawks, and their recent run of play is yet another example of why. The team has lost 10-of-11, posting a 1-3 record during this current five-game homestand. Chicago has allowed 19 goals in four games during this stretch at home, even surrendering four goals in a 7-4 victory over the lowly Philadelphia Flyers.
Ryan Donato leads the team with 29 goals and 59 points. That point total is just tied for 61st in the league. He does have 6 goals and 2 assists on this homestand, scoring twice against the Flyers, dishing out 2 assists in a 5-2 loss to the 5-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils, recording a hat trick in a 5-3 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, and scoring another goal in a 5-2 loss to the Utah Hockey Club.
Connor Bedard, the first overall pick in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft, leads Chicago with 38 assists and has 58 total points. Petr Mrazek had two wins and made 59 saves against the Avalanche earlier this season, but he was traded to the Detroit Red Wings last month.
This is one of those anomalies in a long NHL season. Colorado has 94 points, fourth best in the Western Conference and 43 ahead of Chicago. But the Blackhawks own a 2-1 record against the Avalanche this season. Colorado should even the season series tomorrow night, but the Blackhawks have proven resilient against them this season.
MacKinnon is our best bet for tomorrow night’s contest. He had 7 goals and 12 assists in March and has tallied an assist in three of his past four games. Look for him to make that 4-out-of-5 against Chicago.
Brian has been writing about sports professionally for 25 years, specializing in the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, men's college basketball and football, and soccer. He covered high school, collegiate and professional sports in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area for two decades. His written work has appeared in several print and online publications since 1999.