Colorado Avalanche: The Good, Bad, & Ugly from Blackhawks Game

The Colorado Avalanche had an exciting and eventful game against the Chicago Blackhawks that resulted in a much-needed 5-0 win.

The Colorado Avalanche beat the Chicago Blackhawks last night, which is exactly what they needed to do. Not only that, they got some of their scoring mojo back, scoring five goals and shutting out Chicago.

It was a good game. It was a really good game. There was a sprinkling of Hawks fans in Pepsi Center (*cough), but they didn’t get a chance to cheer since Colorado shut out Chicago.

The game against the Blackhawks was also an eventful one. It started out with a flat start from the team actually fighting for a playoff spot and ended with a joint shutout. So, let’s look at the good, the bad, the ugly and the memorable from last night’s game.

The Good — and I Mean, Game-Saving Good

Goalie Semyon Varlamov was playing lights-out. He’s the reason the Hawks didn’t go up a goal or two in the first period. However, when scrum ensued in front of him, he also got a little help from an unlikely source:

That’s right — it’s Tyson Barrie playing goalie. He was characteristically modest about that great play after the game:

"“You never want to find yourself in a situation where the puck’s that close to going in, so it’s fortunate I was able to get a stick on it there.”"

That was a game that saw Barrie have a three-point night (1 goal, 2 assists), so I probably have to stop criticizing him for a game or two.

Varlamov also got help from a man more used to scoring goals, Nathan MacKinnon:

Let’s not focus on the fact that Gabriel Landeskog accidentally kicked the puck right back at Varly.

The Colorado Avalanche also got five goals. I examined those separately in their own post:

Related Story: Avs Get 5 Goals vs Chicago

Each and every one of those goals felt good.

The Bad — and it’s Pretty Bad

There are two players who have been carrying the Colorado Avalanche to the playoffs. One is Nathan MacKinnon. The other is Semyon Varlamov. He’s been keeping the Avalanche in games they sometimes have no business being in.

Varlamov got injured in the game against the Chicago Blackhawks:

As you can see, winger Tomas Jurco loses his balance and goes crashing into Varlamov. Unfortunately, he lands on Varly’s knee. Semyon left the game and didn’t return.

At the time of writing, there was no word on how Varlamov was doing.

The Ugly — Luckily it Didn’t Get to be Bad

MacKinnon had an active night, even if on the score card it only resulted in an assist.

Late in the second period, Nate had put on the speed and was zooming down the boards. However, a linesman didn’t get out of the way enough in jumping onto the bumpers, and a collision occurred:

We’re really lucky MacKinnon wasn’t injured on that play.

This is pretty ugly, too:

The Memorable

J.T. Compher got in his first NHL fight, though officially he received a roughing penalty. He’s a ginger — it’s no surprise he has a temper.

For Alexander Kerfoot, it wasn’t exactly a fight. However, when you’re the second smallest player (second only to Samuel Girard) on the team, these big hits take on greater meaning:

No, really, when I first saw the play, I thought it was a Nikita Zadorov hit. Big Z has seven inches and at least 50 pounds on our Harvard grad.

Next: Biggest Night of the Season -- Every Night

The Colorado Avalanche had practice today at 11:30 am before flying out to Anaheim for their next most important game of the season, against the Ducks.