CHICAGO _ The Blackhawks fell to the Avalanche 2-1 in overtime at the United Center on Friday.
Nathan MacKinnon won the game for the Avalanche with a wrist shot 25 seconds into overtime, a blow for the Hawks against the worst team in hockey entering the night.
The Hawks certainly kept Corey Crawford busy early on in his first game back from an appendectomy. The Avalanche outshot the Hawks to begin the first period, 8-1, but the Hawks awoke from their early slumber and outshot the Avalanche, who have the fewest points in the NHL, 11-5 the rest of the period.
In the second period, the Hawks finally got on the board thanks to their power play. Jonathan Toews scored his fifth goal of the season off a pass from Artemi Panarin that went behind Avalanche goaltender Calvin Pickard. It was Toews' first goal since Nov. 6.
The Avalanche got on the board in the third period when Mikko Rantanen redirected a pass at 5:42 from Tyson Barrie and by Crawford, who stood little chance of making the save.
But Crawford would come up big later in the period, stopping a breakaway chance from Blake Comeau to keep the game 1-1 with just over eight minutes to play.
