CHICAGO — Petr Mrazek made 31 saves and had an assist for the Chicago Blackhawks in their third straight win, 3-2 against the Colorado Avalanche at United Center on Thursday.
Mrazek, who made his first start since Jan. 1, won for the first time since Dec. 3.
“It felt good to get the win for us, especially after two wins, that’s nice,” Mrazek said. “Keep rolling so that … we learn how to win games.”
Sam Lafferty, Andreas Athanasiou and Taylor Raddysh scored for the Blackhawks (11-25-4), who are on their longest winning streak since a four-game run from Oct. 15-25.
Raddysh gave Chicago a 3-2 lead at 6:36 of the third period. Jonathan Toews sent a cross-ice pass to Tyler Johnson in the left face-off circle, and he sent it across the crease to Raddysh for a tap-in.
“Yeah, I think three complete games, and even a couple of games before that, I think I mentioned before, I thought we were coming,” Chicago coach Luke Richardson said. “We had 40, 45 minutes, 50 minutes where we, not ran out of gas, but a team with maybe a little more depth flexed their muscles on us. We were right there, and I think just to see some results for the guys. , and now that they see it, I think they’re pushing harder. I’ve been talking about us being connected on the ice, but off the ice, you can feel it.”
Video: COL@CHI: Raddysh directs a pass into the back of the net
Evan Rodrigues and Cale Makar scored, Nathan MacKinnon had two assists, and Pavel Francouz made 27 saves for the Avalanche (20-17-3), who have lost seven of eight (1-6-1).
“I thought [the Blackhawks] played with really good speed,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “We made a couple mistakes and they capitalized on them, especially early on. … I think it was a hard-fought game by both teams. It’s 2-2, and we had multiple power-play opportunities that we didn’t capitalize on. The power play didn’t look great.”
The Avalanche went 0-for-5 with the man-advantage; the Blackhawks went 0-for-3.
Lafferty gave Chicago a 1-0 lead on a breakaway at 3:24 of the first period off a pass. Colin Blackwell.
Rodrigues tied it 1-1 at 11:40, backhanding the rebound of a shot by MacKinnon to extend his point streak to seven games (three goals, six assists).
Athanasiou put Chicago up 2-1 at 1:44 of the second period when he skated down the right side, crossed in front of the net and flipped the puck past Francouz.
Makar tied it 2-2 at 11:47 when he took a pass from Mikko Rantanen at the blue line and scored from the high slot.
Video: COL@CHI: Makar fires in a shot from the point
Alex Newhook appeared to have tied it 3-3 from his own rebound in front of the net at 15:09, but video review determined Rantanen interfered with Mrazek and the goal was disallowed.
“Rantanen’s in front of the net, and [Chicago defenseman Connor Murphy] kind of takes him down,” Bednar said. “And there’s no question that his stick ends up on the pad. The puck is loose, so I think it’s a free puck. I don’t know that he goes in without the goalie [Murphy] taking him down, so I think it’s really a close call. I can see why they called it back. I can also see why you’d let it go. But it’s a close one, and Toronto makes the call. You’ve got to move past it.”
Rodrigues said the Avalanche need to start winning soon.
“I think we’re past moral victories at this point,” he said. “We’re past, ‘We had a good third [period].’ It’s not good enough. We’re past that. We’ve got to bear down at practice and figure out a way to get some points here. It’s seven out of the last eight. That’s just not good enough.”
The Blackhawks have won three straight without a forward Patrick Kane, who was placed on injured reserve Thursday with a lower-body injury, retroactive to Jan. 3. He is eligible to play against the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.
“When you miss a guy like ‘Kaner’, it’s obviously a huge loss for us,” Raddysh said. “You’re going to need all lines going when you’re missing him. I felt we’ve done a pretty good job with that. Just have to continue to work hard and get everyone going. When we have all four lines going, it makes it hard on the other team and keeps the momentum in our favor. We’ve handled it well, and we just have to keep building off it.”
NOTES: Blackhawks forward MacKenzie Entwistle had one shot and two hits in 10:40 of ice time after missing six games with a wrist injury. … MacKinnon has seven points (three goals, four assists) in his past five games. … It was Francouz’s first game since Dec. 13.
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