The Chicago Blackhawks were scuffling entering the Olympic break, and the three weeks off didn’t appear to change their fortunes.
Chicago fell 4-2 at Nashville on Thursday night, its seventh loss in the last eight games (1-5-2), and will face a tougher task when it faces the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday in Denver.
The Blackhawks had 22 days off before playing the Predators, and things got a little mundane for the team. The only Chicago player to participate in the Olympics was Teuvo Teravainen, who won a bronze medal with Finland.
While Teravainen played six games in Italy, his NHL teammates were resting and practicing for the final push of the regular season.
“I wouldn’t say (the break) was needed, but I say (it was) a beneficial time to refresh physically and mentally,” Connor Bedard said. “Practicing is fun, but we do this so we can play. That’s what we love to do.”
Bedard has experienced two breaks this season, one due to injury, but he still leads Chicago in scoring with 54 points (20 goals, 34 assists). His shoulder injury sustained in the closing seconds of a loss at the St. Louis Blues on Dec. 12 likely cost him a chance to play for Canada in the Olympics. He showed no rust against Nashville, scoring one of the two Blackhawks’ goals.
Tyler Bertuzzi, the team’s leading goal scorer, had the other, his 26th of the season, and Teravainen added an assist.
Saturday’s matchup at Colorado will be the second of three between the teams. The Avalanche won the first meeting 1-0 at Chicago on Nov. 23 during their torrid start to the season. Colorado has cooled off since opening the season 31-2-7 but still leads the NHL in points with 85.
The Avalanche are coming off a 5-2 home loss to Minnesota on Thursday night, 24 hours after restarting their season with a 4-2 win at Utah. Colorado is 5-6-2 in its last 13 games and has a dense schedule coming up, with back-to-back games at Los Angeles and Anaheim starting Monday and an important matchup at Dallas on Friday.
“We’ve got 25 games to go. These will be important games, especially these division games, no doubt about it,” captain Gabriel Landeskog said after Thursday’s loss. “I think for us, these are important games and points, we know that, but I think for us, it doesn’t really change our approach or anything like that. We have to be … better, that’s for sure.”
Landeskog missed the last 14 games before the break with an upper-body injury but played for Sweden in the Olympics. He tallied an assist in each of his first two games back in the Avalanche lineup.
Martin Necas continued his strong play with two goals Thursday night and now has 25 on the season, three shy of his career high. He is second on the team in scoring with 66 points, while Nathan MacKinnon leads the way in goals (40) and assists (55) and is tied for second in the NHL with 95 points.
