Avalanche Fall 5-2 to Blackhawks at Home

The Avalanche lost 5-2 to the Chicago Blackhawks at Ball Arena on Monday. Nathan MacKinnon and Casey Mittelstadt each scored for Colorado while Cale Makar, Sam Malinski, and Logan O'Connor recorded an assist.

Chicago's Philipp Kurashev opened the scoring on the power play with a slapshot from the high slot at 8:47 of the first period.

Mittelstadt tied the game with his sixth goal of the season with a right-circle wrist shot at 10:16 of the opening frame.

Lukas Reichel gave Chicago a 2-1 lead at 11:04 of the period with a deflection on Craig Smith's left-circle wrist shot.

Ryan Donato doubled Chicago's lead at 16:56 with a backhand shot from the doorstep off a rebound.

MacKinnon put the Avalanche within a goal on a five-on-three power play with his fifth goal of the seaon when he raced down the left wing, drove to the net, and put the puck past Petr Mrazek. With his assist on the goal, Makar set the franchise record among defensemen for the longest season-opening point streak at 10 games.

Additionally, on that goal, MacKinnon and Makar became the first set of teammates in franchise history to record simultaneous season-opening point streaks of 10 games.

Chicago took a 4-2 lead when Donato scored his second of the game with an empty-netter at 19:02 of the third period.

Ilya Mikheyev scored an empty-net goal at 19:40 to give the Blackhawks a 5-2 lead.

The Avalanche conclude their three-game homestand on Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Altitude TV and Altitude+.