Postgame Wrap-Up: Chances Against Costly Versus Chicago

The Colorado Avalanche was able to create opportunities for itself offensively but allowing too many chances against proved to be costly against the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday.
The Avs were outshot 37-32 and ultimately fell 3-2 in overtime while shorthanded to the Central-Division foe at Pepsi Center.

"We had good juice, we had good energy, especially early. It was a high-event game, that what I call that," said Colorado head coach Jared Bednar. "I mean, there are chances both ends. First period we had some great looks, you know the one power play had three or four great looks, one empty net by Compher that we miss, and they did the same thing.
"They were picking us apart a little bit on the offensive side of it, and I thought we were doing the same to them for a while, lots of chances both teams. Not exactly how we want to play. We want to be dangerous offensively, but we got to be better on the defensive side, both on the rush and in zone."

The Avs found themselves behind 2-0 midway through the first period after giving up an early power-play goal in a sequence where Chicago generated six shots in 43 seconds with the man advantage, but Mikko Rantanen soon got the Avalanche going offensively.
He scored his 17th goal of the season before the end of the first frame, and Nathan MacKinnon helped Colorado complete the comeback, tying the outing at 2-2 in the closing minutes of the second stanza.
Rantanen's marker came on the man advantage while MacKinnon's was during a delayed Chicago penalty. The Avalanche finished the game 1-for-3 on the power play and is now 38-for-139 (27.3 percent) this season with the extra attacker, the fourth-ranked power play in the league.
"I thought we played hard, we obviously battled back," said Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog. "After the first [10] minutes and they go up 2-0, I felt like we had more and there was a lot of hockey left after that.
"I think we got better and better, and I think the third obviously we got a little tentative with the puck and weren't really making the strong plays. Especially in the O-zone, we weren't really getting much going. But, nonetheless its one point."
The Avalanche is now 19-13-7 (45 points) on the season and sits in third place in the Central Division, just one point behind the second-place Nashville Predators.
34 SAVES FOR VARLY: Semyon Varlamov stopped 34 of the 37 shots he faced, including eight while Colorado was shorthanded, against the Blackhawks. It was his first start in net since Dec. 17 versus the New York Islanders.
Varlamov and the Colorado penalty killers were able to keep the game knotted at 2-2 when the Avs found themselves down two men for 1:22 in the third period.
"We know that we have two really good goaltenders that can really help us out and really give us the confidence that we need back there," said Landeskog. "Varly, he gets a [50]-minute shutout or whatever it was obviously until overtime, but I think he played really well the whole game."

BARRIE AMONG FRANCHISE'S BEST:Tyson Barrie continues to make his mark in the Avalanche franchise record book.
With a helper on Mikko Rantanen's tally in the first period, Barrie now has 208 in his career. He passed John-Michael Liles as the all-time assist leader by a defenseman in the Avalanche/Nordiques franchise history, doing so in 441 NHL games--82 fewer outings than Liles.
Liles currently holds the scoring record for franchise blueliners with 275 points, and Barrie is close behind with a total of 273. Barrie also trails Liles (68) and Sandis Ozolinsh (72) in the archives with 65 goals.
Against the Blackhawks, Barrie has 25 points (seven goals, 18 assists) in 26 career games, the highest point-per-game average (.96) of any active defenseman versus Chicago.

MORE POSTGAME NOTES: Mikko Rantanen recorded goal to bring his point total to 61 on the season, second behind Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov (63). Rantanen's marker came on the power play, and he has now accumulated 21 power-play points this season, tied for third in the league.
Nathan MacKinnon scored his 23rd tally of the season, which is tied for fiffth in the NHL. He finished with seven shots and sits first in the league with 177 shots.
Erik Johnson registered a season-high five blocked shots.
Ryan Graves, playing in his second career NHL contest, recorded five blocked shots.