INSTANT ANALYSIS: Early Deficit, Transition Struggles Too Much vs. Avs

In more ways than one, it wasn't the start the Blackhawks wanted as they dropped the opening game of the year to the Avalanche on Wednesday night, 4-2.
Dominik Kubalik and Connor Murphy each scored on the night and Marc-Andre Fleury made 32 saves in his debut, but it wasn't enough for Chicago, who trailed 3-0 within the opening 10 minutes and couldn't surmount a comeback.
"I thought we went better as the game went along, but it's hard to dig yourself out of a hole," head coach Jeremy Colliton said. "We had our chances in the last two periods and we didn't finish them, but overall the start did us in.
"We need to be better. We will be better. We've got good players and I think the stuff that happened is very correctable and I expect we will."

POSTGAME LINKS
GAMECENTER: CHI at COL
RECAP: Blackhawks Fall in Opener, 4-2
HIGHLIGHTS: Blackhawks Fall to Avs in Opener
GALLERY: Blackhawks at Avalanche
INSIDER: Borgstrom Proving He Belongs

EARLY HOLE

The Blackhawks had a forgettable opening frame in Denver, falling into a quick hole to one the league's most potent offenses -- Nathan MacKinnon's absence due to COVID-19 notwithstanding.
"It happened a couple times in the preseason, too," Kubalik said of the slow start, with the Blackhawks trailing early in four of their six exhibition tilts. "I don't want to say we weren't ready. But we didn't manage the puck the way we wanted… We gave them those chances and they scored."
A pair of bad breaks just 88 seconds apart ignited the onslaught. First, Jake McCabe and Tyler Johnson knocked skates in the neutral zone to spring Jack Johnson on a breakaway front he blue line in on Fleury. Then, a double deflection of an Erik Johnson point shot, lastly off the skate of Gabriel Landeskog while setting the screen in front, found its way skyward over an unsuspecting Chicago netminder. Bowen Byram's first NHL tally nearly four minutes later as the late man off a rush made the hole nearly insurmountable.
"It sucks. We knew they were going to come out hard with the speed and talent up front," Kirby Dach said. "We were behind the 8 ball quick and it's hard to beat a team when you're trailing like that. We've got to find a way to be ready. There's no other excuses, we've just got to be ready at puck drop."
"When they scored the first one, I felt like the game got out of control for most of that first period and then we're in a hole," Colliton added. "It's hard to come back against good teams, which they are."

TRANSITION GAME

The biggest issue early for Chicago was controlling the game when it was coming back towards their end. Three of the four goals Colorado found on the night were quick in transition, each finding a trailer to the play on the weak side of the puck.
"I think it boils down to we didn't do a very good job with their rush offense," Colliton said. "We didn't have enough guys back and the guys we did have back, I didn't think we sorted out the rush well enough and they were able to get way, way too high quality of chances in those situations, which they scored on."
"They're a skating team. They capitalized on the transition game," Kubalik added. "I think as the game went on, we did a better job to stop those situations and try to kill it at their blue line. That's what we didn't do in the first. They beat us up ice and we've got to learn from that."

SPECIAL TEAMS

When down 3-0 in the first, the Blackhawks made the most of the game's opening power play to get something going the other direction. Ian Mitchell fed Kubalik with a cross-ice feed, one that the winger put on goal with authority -- a one-timer that rang off the crossbar and in to make it a 3-1 game heading into the locker room after the first.
"I kind of thought after that goal we got a little bit better, we got a little momentum after that," Kubalik said. "We just couldn't score the next (goal) right away, I think that would've been a different game."

While the power play went 1-for-3 on the night, the penalty kill was a perfect 4-for-4, including a crucial opening kill at the end of the first right after Kubalik's tally. A quick-response goal after the Blackhawks got themselves back into the action could've been a devastating blow.
The Blackhawks four kills also netted three scoring chances at the other end while a playing man down.
"I think this game was a lot of special teams," he added. "I think PK did a pretty good job too and we scored on the power play, so that's all you can do. We've got to keep going, keep doing (that) the next game too."

FINAL TOUCH

Without a doubt, Dach was the Blackhawks' most lethal offensive threat on Wednesday night, leading the team in shots (5), tying for the lead in scoring chances (8) and providing the screen in front that allowed Kubalik's blistering point shot to get to the net unseen by Darcy Kuemper.
But it was a pair of point-blank chances down 3-1 in the third that left Dach frustrated after the game. The centerman was unable to get one past Kuemper to give his team a chance at a comeback.
"It sucks. If I score those it might be a different game. That's on me," he said. "It's been a problem of mine for the past couple of years, you guys ask me about it quite a lot, so I've got to figure something out and start scoring goals."
"I thought he was excellent all game. He was involved, created a lot," Colliton said. "He didn't score, but I don't think it was poor attempts. They didn't go in. I know he wants to make a difference for the team and part of that is producing, but I thought he played well."
Dach was second to only Alex DeBrincat in ice time among Blackhawks forwards, skating 18:59 in the loss. He was also 3-for-5 at the faceoff dot.