The Chicago Blackhawks took on the Colorado Avalanche at United Center on Friday night. The Avalanche came in red hot winners of 8 of 10 and 3 in a row. The Blackhawks came in angry losers of two straight including with 32 seconds to go last night in Philadelphia. John Scott got the start in place of Sean O’Donnell who was a healthy scratch. Corey Crawford got the nod in goal for the Hawks. Semyon Varlamov got the start for the Avalanche. The Avalanche got on the board first with a David Jones goal and it all went downhill for the Hawks from there. Chicago had a complete lack of effort and looked like they were not even in the building for most of the remaining 47 minutes. The Avalanche would add goals from T.J. Galiardi, David Van Der Gulik, and Chuck Kobasew for a 4-0 victory. Kobasew was left wide open by himself in front of Crawford in an inexcusable defensive breakdown. Defensive breakdowns were the story of the night led by Nick Leddy and his atrocious -4 rating for the night. Leddy played a horrible game, was out of position often, and was on the ice for all 4 Avalanche goals. The Hawks managed just 27 shots but could not get anything by Varlamov as they repeatedly failed to convert any scoring chances. The lack of effort was evident and a chorus of boos came down from the United Center faithful on more than one occasion. The Hawks dropped their third straight game falling to 24-13-4 on the year and 14-5-3 on home ice. It was the second straight loss on home ice. The Hawks will host the Red Wings on Sunday night in a battle for the Central Division lead. Detroit currently sits one point back in the standings but play in Toronto on Saturday night. The Hawks are 1-0-0 against Detroit on the year posting a 3-2 victory on December 30th.
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