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Blackhawks: MacKinnon dominates Chicago once again

By Vincent Parise

LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 28: Patrick Kane #88 of the Chicago Blackhawks and Nathan MacKinnon #29 of the Colorado Avalanche converse during the Bridgestone NHL Fastest Skater event during the 2017 Coors Light NHL All-Star Skills Competition as part of the 2017 NHL All-Star Weekend at STAPLES Center on January 28, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 28: Patrick Kane #88 of the Chicago Blackhawks and Nathan MacKinnon #29 of the Colorado Avalanche converse during the Bridgestone NHL Fastest Skater event during the 2017 Coors Light NHL All-Star Skills Competition as part of the 2017 NHL All-Star Weekend at STAPLES Center on January 28, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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The Chicago Blackhawks were defeated by the Colorado Avalanche yet again and you can officially say that Nathan McKinnon is a Blackhawks killer.

The Chicago Blackhawks were defeated once again by the Colorado Avalanche by a final score of 4-1. The Avalanche are one of the very best teams in the National Hockey League and they showed it at the United Center on Wednesday night. They used their good goaltending and dominance from their top forward line to get a win in this one. They were led by their superstar center Nathan MacKinnon once again. He seems to get better every single day and his dominance of the Chicago Blackhawks is starting to be well documented.

He scored a goal in this game and it served to be the game-winning goal. MacKinnon’s game-breaking ability has shown now for the past three seasons. He is right there with Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby for the title of the best player in the entire National Hockey League. It is bad news for the Blackhawks because he is in the division and they are only getting better.

The entire top line for Colorado played well in this game. He is complemented by two elite wingers named Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen. Landeskog had two assists while Rantanen had an empty-net goal and an assist in this one. This line is one of the two best lines in the entire NHL and if you don’t contain them you won’t win. Coach Jeremy Colliton started using the Zack Smith –David Kampf – Matthew Highmore line against them so he could free up the Dominik Kubalik – Jonathan Toews– Brandon Saad line but it didn’t really work.

The Avalanche shut down the Blackhawks offense even though they only outshot them 36-32. Colorado goalie Pavel Francouz played amazing. Corey Crawford was pretty good for Chicago as well, but he allowed the sweet MacKinnon goal along with two other Colorado goals. You can’t blame this game on goaltending at all because Crawford gave his team a chance to win but they let him down. A guy like MacKinnon and his linemates are going to burn you every now and then but as a team when you don’t outplay your opponent you will get crushed in the NHL.

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The Blackhawks had Duncan Keith back from injury in this game but his lineup spot took Brent Seabrook‘s away. It is never a popular move when the coaches bench Seabrook. He deserves more respect than that as he is not the reason they are losing. Hopefully, they can figure out a way to dress a winning lineup tonight when the Winnipeg Jets host the Blackhawks. Robin Lehner figures to get the start in goal as the Jets are a really good team that can score. It would go a long way for Chicago if they were able to get a big win in Winnipeg.

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