David Jones scored twice as the Colorado Avalanche took down the slumping Chicago Blackhawks, 5-2, at Pepsi Center.
Kyle Quincey, Peter Mueller and Gabriel Landeskog each had a goal for the Avalanche, who snapped a five-game slide. Jean-Sebastien Giguere gave up two goals on 31 shots.
"Honestly, when we play teams like Chicago and Vancouver, we seem to respect them more," said Colorado center Paul Stastny, who had two assists in the game. "We move the puck quicker, we may give up a few more transitions, but we also get more chances. And when Giguere plays like he did tonight, we are fine."
The Blackhawks, meanwhile, are on a season-high six-game losing streak as the team managed goals from just Brent Seabrook and Patrick Kane. Ray Emery was tagged for four goals on 28 shots.
"Every mistake we make is being capitalized on," said Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith. "We have to get in a better position to turn things around. Everything we seem to do seems to be harder. We have to start outworking the other teams."
With the score tied in the third, Colorado grabbed the lead on Landeskog's 12th of the year. Stastny brought the puck in down the left side and from the boards he left a drop pass for Landeskog, who let fly with a shot from the top of the left circle that beat Emery to the glove side for a 3-2 lead just 38 seconds in.
Jones then gave Colorado some insurance with 8:18 to play in the game as his wrister from the right circle on the fly beat Emery cleanly.
Quincey scored into the empty net with 2:02 left to seal the win.
After a scoreless first period, Chicago took a 1-0 lead just 31 seconds into the second when Seabrook found a loose puck at the left circle and blasted it into the net.
Colorado tied it three minutes later on a 2-on-1 break as Ryan O'Reilly faked the shot from the left circle before sliding the puck down low where Mueller redirected it into the net.
Jones gave the Avs a 2-1 lead just 35 seconds later when he snapped the puck home on a wrister from the slot off a feed from Milan Hejduk.
Kane, though, tied the game at the 6:14 mark of the second when he got the puck from Patrick Sharp at the right circle and sent a heavy backhand on net that blew by Giguere.
Game Notes
