Colorado Avalanche v Chicago Blackhawks — 3 takeaways from the Chicago Blackhawks 5-0 loss to the Colorado Avalanche

3 takeaways from the Chicago Blackhawks 5-0 loss to the Colorado Avalanche

Modified Mar 01, 2024 11:30 GMT

On Thursday night, the Chicago Blackhawks found themselves on the wrong end of a beatdown, with the Colorado Avalanche defeating them 5-0 on home ice.

To add insult to injury, Connor Bedard and company were shut out by the visitor's backup goalie, Justus Annunen, who only needed to make 24 saves.

The loss is Chicago's fifth in a row, with opponents outscoring them by a 20-8 margin in total. Since returning from injury on Feb. 15, this is the third game that the former first-overall pick has been held pointless.

The Blackhawks must put this game behind them and look ahead to their Saturday matchup with the Columbus Blue Jackets. With that in mind, here are takeaways from their Thursday night contest.

3 takeaways from the Chicago Blackhawks 5-0 loss to the Colorado Avalanche

#1. Things will only get worse before they get better

Since the start of 2024, the Blackhawks have a 4-16-3 record, with a goal differential of minus-35. They lost Bedard to a broken jaw injury on Jan. 5 and, in his absence, won just three times.

Despite the setback in the rookies' chase for the Calder Trophy, Chicago gave some of the best teams in the NHL a tough time, losing contests by one goal to the New York Rangers, Winnipeg Jets, and Edmonton Oilers.

Their previous two losses before Thursday night came in overtime, which indicates that the team is slowly finding themselves. Every game since Bedard's return has been close except a blowout at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes (Feb. 19), who won 6-3.

Of course, when a team is so young and inexperienced as Chicago is, who are also fighting through significant injuries, there are bound to be setbacks, like against one of the top teams in the Central Division.

Although there have been some uglier losses this year, Bedard and company will have a few more nights like Thursday.

#2. Despite the score, the Blackhawks hung out with one of the NHL's elite teams

The final score may have been 5-0 in favor of the Avalanche, but the deeper you look into the statistics, the game was not as lopsided as the scoresheet would indicate.

Despite being outshot 34-24, Chicago was the better team in the faceoff circle, schooling their opponents by a wide margin 57.4% to 42.6%. Besides that, the Blackhawks had blocked more shots, 17-10, and stayed competitive with 18 hits, the same as Colorado.

Even though these two clubs are separated by 44 points in the standings, this game wasn't a complete blowout.

On Thursday, the Blackhawks showed they have character and will hang with any team in the league, even if the scoreboard says they will not win. Ultimately, with a few extra saves here and a couple of lucky bounces, this game could have been 3-2 or similar.

Overall, for a team that ranks so low and doesn't have much to play for besides pride, Chicago showed that fans shouldn't give up on them because the score will be reversed one day soon.

#3. Bedard's talent affords him unlimited opportunities

On Thursday night, four players from the Blackhawks played over 20 minutes, with three of them being defensemen, including Seth Jones, Alex Vlasic, and Kevin Korchinski. The only other player to skate that much was Bedard, who finished with 21:33.

Interestingly, his ice time against the Avalanche ranks second to the 24:49 he skated against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Feb. 21. As the most talented guy on the Blackhawks, it makes sense to keep sending him out there.

However, Connor McDavid only averaged 18:53 a night during his rookie season, and Sidney Crosby skated 20:08. Bedard is averaging 19:13 a night and is a minus-26, the fourth-worst total in Chicago.

Neither McDavid (minus-one) nor Crosby (minus-one) played in the situation that Bedard is in, but with just 40 points in 45 games and being on the ice in so many challenging situations, is the rookie playing too much?

He had two shots on Thursday night and won 50% of his draws. We all understand he's dying to play after missing over a month. Still, with the season all but written off, the Blackhawks coaching staff should consider protecting his development instead of throwing him to the wolves every night.