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 "It's something new in my career to learn, being positive this long
and trying not to get too frustrated," said Hossa, an 18-year NHL
veteran. "I just kept working hard and just believed."
On Sunday night, Hossa's positivity finally paid off. He scored
twice for his first multi-goal effort of the season, and the
Blackhawks overwhelmed the Colorado Avalanche for a 6-3 win.
Right winger Patrick Kane also scored twice. Center Jonathan Toews
and left winger Brandon Mashinter added one goal apiece for the
Blackhawks.
Chicago (27-13-4) extended its season-long winning streak to seven
games.
Right winger Matt Duchene led the Avalanche with two goals. Center
Nathan MacKinnon added a goal for Colorado (21-19-3).
Duchene said he and his teammates gave maximum effort but could not
keep pace.
"That's why they've won three Cups in the last six years," Duchene
said. "They have so many weapons that can hurt you every night. When
they're all going, it's really scary. They were the better team all
around tonight."
Chicago goaltender Corey Crawford stopped 34 of 37 shots to improve
to 23-10-2.
Colorado goaltender Semyon Varlamov allowed four goals on 20 shots
before he was replaced during the second period. Calvin Pickard
stopped 13 of 15 shots in relief.
"It was a nice night on the offensive side of things," Chicago coach
Joel Quenneville said.
Mashinter opened the scoring to give Chicago a 1-0 lead with 11:33
to go in the first period. Right winger Ryan Garbutt released a
wrist shot from the left circle that Varlamov could not corral, and
Mashinter punched in the rebound with a backhand shot.
Kane increased Chicago's lead to 2-0 with 3:38 remaining in the
first period. Center Artem Anisimov set a screen in front of the
net, and Kane ripped a wrist shot past Varlamov's glove side.
"You could see a lot of our goals tonight were right around the net,
through traffic, screens, different things like that," Kane said.
"It's good to score that way."
The Blackhawks made it 3-0 with 18:21 left in the second period.
Defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson fed a pass across the crease to Hossa,
who scored his first goal since Dec. 6.
The goal came as a relief to Hossa as well as his teammates. Hossa
had five goals in 38 games this season before scoring twice against
the Avalanche.
"You could see after he scored there, he started to make some really
nice plays," Kane said. "He was holding on to the puck. He got a few
more chances. He was fun to watch tonight."
Colorado cut the deficit to 3-1 on a wrist shot by Duchene with
14:50 remaining in the second period.
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Duchene scored again about four minutes later to close the gap to
3-2. The former first-round pick ripped a wrist shot from the right
circle for his second goal of the game and his team-leading 21st of
the season.
Chicago pulled away with three goals in the next 10 minutes to go
ahead 6-2.
Kane started the barrage on the power play with his second goal of
the game and 25th of the season. Colorado coach Patrick Roy replaced
Varlamov after the goal with 7:35 remaining in the second period.
"I was thinking about giving 'Varly' a day off (Tuesday) against
Tampa Bay," Roy said. "The way the game was going, I said, maybe I'm
going to give him his day off tonight and then he'll play against
Tampa Bay."
The change in net did little to help the Avalanche. Toews scored on
a slap shot with 5:29 to go in the second period to make it 5-2.
Hossa followed with his second goal of the game and the 493rd of his
career with 1:18 remaining in the second period.
MacKinnon scored with 4:58 left in the third period to cut Chicago's
lead to 6-3.
Hossa said he hoped Sunday's two-goal performance would jump-start
his offense in the second half of the season.
"That would be nice," Hossa said. "But every year is different. I
definitely feel good. I'll try to keep working hard and get more
opportunities."
NOTES: Blackhawks LW Brandon Mashinter returned to the lineup after
sitting out the previous four games as a healthy scratch. ...
Avalanche D Erik Johnson missed his third straight game because of a
lower-body injury. Johnson has not skated since the injury. ...
Blackhawks D Duncan Keith appeared in his 800th career game. Keith
won three Stanley Cup championships and two Norris Trophy awards
since Chicago drafted him in 2002. ... Avalanche D Brad Stuart
missed his 28th consecutive game because of a back injury. ...
Blackhawks D Rob Scuderi was a healthy scratch.
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