Blackhawks end 4-game skid, snap Avalanche’s 5-game winning streak

DENVER -- Ryan Donato had two goals and an assist, and the Chicago Blackhawks ended a four-game losing streak with a win 5-2 against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on Monday.

Philipp Kurashev, Lukas Reichel and Ilya Mikheyev scored, and Jason Dickinson had two assists for the Blackhawks (3-6-1). Petr Mrazek made 24 saves.

“I think we deserved what we got tonight, and there's been nights that we probably didn't deserve the final fate,” Chicago coach Luke Richardson said. “We could have easily had a few more wins, and I think this team and the whole organization is tired of the moral victories. So, tonight was a really big step for us to take a real victory and put it in the back of our minds how we did it.”

Nathan MacKinnon (one goal) and Cale Makar (one assist) each extended his season-opening point streak to 10 games for the Avalanche (5-5-0), who had won five in a row. Alexandar Georgiev made 21 saves.

Colorado was playing in the second game of a back-to-back after winning 5-4 against the Ottawa Senators at Ball Arena on Sunday.

“We were no good again. We weren't as good as last night, even,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “We just looked tired. Execution was bad, mentally not sharp. So, it happens. Looked like we didn't have energy, though, right from the drop of the puck.

“We're not looking at moral victories here right now. It wasn't our best game. Needed to be better and it wasn't. It's two in a row.”

Kurashev gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead at 8:47 of the first period with a slap shot from the top of the left circle on the power play.

Casey Mittelstadt tied it 1-1 at 10:16 with a wrist shot from the right circle that beat Mrazek blocker side.

“I think we made it harder on ourselves than we should have, especially like in the first period,” Avalanche forward Logan O’Connor said. “I felt like we were turning tons of pucks over in the middle of the ice. Couldn't get in on the forecheck, which is sort of the staple of our game right now with the lineup we have.”

Reichel put Chicago back in front 2-1 at 11:04 when Craig Smith’s shot off the face-off ricocheted off his body before trickling past Georgiev.

“We've seen one or two [of those] go against us, and it was about time one bounced in for us,” Richardson said. “The Reichel one, I thought, was big.”

Donato extended the lead to 3-1 at 16:56, putting in the rebound of Dickinson’s shot with his backhand at the top of the crease.

“You go hard to the net and you say your prayers. The puck can go anywhere, and for me it was a lucky bounce and I was lucky to put it away,” Donato said. “But getting to those areas is definitely hard. I think we could do more of that, and hopefully good things happen from that.”

MacKinnon cut it to 3-2 at 19:17 of the first. He skated down the left wing around Seth Jones before driving to the net and shooting five-hole while on a 5-on-3 power play.

Donato scored an empty-net goal at 19:02 of the third period to make it 4-2, and Mikheyev added another at 19:41 for the 5-2 final.

“There's so many times the last couple games where we feel like we played pretty well, and five minutes we take off they're back in the game. We just find a way to not finish it off,” Donato said. “Tonight, I think we all came in the locker room after the second and said it wasn't good enough, we got to step back up. There's not much to say other than just getting the job done, and that's kind of what happened tonight.”

Avalanche forward Ross Colton, who leads the team with eight goals this season, left the game after the second period with an undisclosed injury.

“He's out. He took that shot (to the leg in the first),” Bednar said. “He's going to miss some time, but we'll get a better feel on how long, how much time that's going to be, tomorrow or by Wednesday morning.”

NOTES: Makar has 17 points (three goals, 14 assists) and MacKinnon has 16 points (five goals, 11 assists) during their 10-game point streak. Makar is the fourth defenseman in NHL history to start a season with a point streak of at least 10 games, joining Bobby Orr (15 games in 1973-74), Doug Wilson (10 games in 1981-82) and Guy Lapointe (10 games 1974-75). ... MacKinnon became the eighth player in NHL history with multiple season-opening point streaks of at least 10 games (13 games in 2019-20).