Blackhawks stop Avalanche with late goal in 3-2 win

The Pepsi Center?

More like the House of Horrors for the Blackhawks, who came into Wednesday's game against the Avalanche having lost six of their last eight games in Denver.

“We haven't had much success here,” Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said after Wednesday's morning skate. “We've had some tough games here.”

The Avs came into the game having won four of their last five, and the Hawks — prior to a loss in Vancouver on Sunday — had some big momentum going after starting their circus trip with wins over Calgary and Edmonton.

“We want to start this portion of the trip in a positive way and recapture that momentum we had going into Vancouver,” Quenneville said.

It certainly didn't come easy, but the Hawks accomplished that mission.

Patrick Kane had 3 assists, Brent Seabrook registered his 300th NHL point, Andrew Shaw broke a 12-game streak without a goal and Bryan Bickell scored the game-winner to lead the Hawks to a hard-fought 3-2 victory over the Avalanche to improve to 3-1 on the circus road trip.

“What a hockey game that was,” Quenneville said. “It was anybody's game. It was nice to come out ahead tonight.”

The Hawks did everything in their power to get off to a good start, taking it to the Avs and goalie Calvin Pickard in the first period. But the young goalie, who was making just his second NHL start, had an answer for everything the Hawks threw his way and stopped all 13 shots he faced in the opening 20 minutes to keep it scoreless.

“He was outstanding,” Quenneville said.

After missing the first three games of the six-game trip with an upper-body injury, Shaw was back in the lineup for the Hawks — and he proved a difference-maker.

“I just brought as much energy as I could,” said Shaw, who had lobbied Quenneville to get back in the lineup against the Canucks but was denied. “I felt great out there.”

Earlier in the day, Shaw talked about what kind of game to expect against the Avs.

“We've had trouble in this building so we have to come out hard and push early,” he said. “They're a hungry team. They've got a lot to prove ... and so do we.”

Shaw and Co. sure did in the second period, scoring on consecutive power plays to grab a 2-1 lead.

Colorado actually got on the board first when Maxime Talbot beat Corey Crawford (27 saves) at 7:35 of the second.

But the Hawks, who were 0-fer on their first 3 power-play attempts, finally found their touch the fourth time around when Jonathan Toews scored off a rebound of a Seabrook blast to tie things up midway through the second. It was Toews' 10th goal of the season.

That set the table for Shaw's triumphant return. The pesky forward one-timed a perfect pass from Kane past Pickard to give the Hawks a 2-1 lead heading into the third period.

“I thought he was excellent tonight,” Quennevile said of Shaw. “He scored a big goal and I thought he had a real strong game.”

Ryan O'Reiley tied the game early in the third period, but in the final minutes of the game, Kane sent a beautiful feed to Bickell, who jammed it past Pickard (42 saves) for the game-winner.

“It was kind of a ‘hope' play by me to throw it there and let him do his thing,” Kane said. “He made a great play.”

It was Bickell's third goal of season and his first goal in the last seven games, but most importantly, it sent the Hawks to the California leg of the trip with some much-needed momentum.

“That was a really big win for us,” Crawford said. “After a tough loss in Vancouver, it was nice to get back on track.”