Nov. 27--DENVER -- After a misstep in Vancouver, the Blackhawks found their way again in stop No. 4 of their annual Circus Trip.
Bryan Bickell notched the game-winner late in the third period while Jonathan Toews and Andrew Shaw each scored on the power play to help lift the Hawks to a 3-2 victory over the Avalanche on Wednesday night at the Pepsi Center. Patrick Kane added three assists and Corey Crawford was stellar in goal to help the Hawks improve to 3-1-0 on their six-game trip. The win was the Hawks' fourth in their last five games overall and righted the ship after a 4-1 loss to the Canucks on Sunday night.
"It's a good start to the second half of the road trip," Kane said. "It's a lot better being 3-1 through the first four games than 2-2. It was important to come out with a good effort (Wednesday night)."
Maxime Talbot and Ryan O'Reilly scored for the Avs, who were playing the second of back-to-back contests. Crawford out-dueled Avalanche rookie netminder Calvin Pickard to pick up the win for the Hawks in his 12th consecutive start.
The pace was quick from the opening puck drop and featured a combined 74 shots on goal, including 46 from the Hawks.
"What a hockey game that was," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "Anybody's game. It was nice to come out ahead."
After the Avs opened the scoring with Talbot's goal midway through the second, the Hawks' power play kicked into gear with scores from Toews and Shaw to give the visitors the lead headed into the second intermission.
"The power play, we kind of adjusted some things after the first couple," Kane said. "We had some chances. It's big when you're getting shots through. It's always nice when that's kind of clicking for you."
Added Bickell, who scored the game-winner with 5 minutes, 17 seconds remaining in the third by chipping a shot past Pickard after another terrific feed from Kane: "Coming back after that Vancouver game, our power play stepped up and got us a couple of goals. Our special teams did great. (The Avalanche) are highly skilled team with a lot of speed and we had a lot of Grade A chances but we played well defensively at the same time."
The Hawks will conclude the trip with back-to-back games against the Ducks and Kings on Friday and Saturday, respectively. They won't see winger Patrick Sharp, who will remain in Chicago while recovering from a right knee injury that caused the veteran to miss his eighth consecutive game.
"(Sharp) is skating but he's not going to come on this trip," Quenneville said. "We'll see how he does when we get back."
Asked where Sharp would fit in with the Hawks' top two lines playing so well, Quenneville said, "We like tough decisions."
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