The streak is over. The Chicago Blackhawks lost their first regulation game of the season after going 24 games in the 2012-13 season without a loss in 60 minutes. In fact, the team had not lost a single game in open play; the three losses that the Blackhawks suffered this year were in the shootout.
The defeat came at the hands of an inspired Colorado Avalanche team that was taking on the Blackhawks for the second straight game. In their first encounter on Wednesday, Colorado lost 3-2. In that game, the Avalanche blew a 2-1 lead; they would not make the same mistake on Friday night. Despite falling behind on a Jonathan Toews goal in the first six minutes, the Avalanche reeled off five straight goals, including four in the second, to run away with a 6-2 victory. Paul Stastny, Matt Duchene, John Mitchell, Ryan O'Reilly, and Jamie McGinn were the scorers of the unanswered tallies. Bryan Bickell would get one back for Chicago, but PA Parenteau would add his team-leading 10th goal to cap the scoring. Duchene ended the night with three assists to go along with his goal while Stastny had a goal and two assists.
"We were fortunate to play well enough to make it this far and it's something we can be proud of," captain Jonathan Toews said. "We'll take the confidence we gained from all that and keep going forward. Everyone knows you can't win them all."
The loss also snapped the 11-game winning streak and was the first time that Chicago had allowed five or more goals this season; Chicago had only given up four goals once this season on Feb. 20 against the Phoenix Coyotes.
"We don't practice very often so when you're out there and it's just ordinary, missing passes or whatever, (it's to) just to get their focus - let's go," Chicago Coach Joel Quenneville said.
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