Blackhawks lose to Avalanche, 5-3

Every fan in sight was on their feet.

Stomping. Screaming. Leaning, swaying and hoping that the Blackhawks could cash in on a late power play that would likely send a huge divisional affair to overtime at the United Center on Friday.

With Colorado's Erik Johnson in the penalty box and Collin Delia on the bench for an extra attacker, the Hawks skated 6-on-4 while trailing 4-3 with just 1:43 remaining.

Then the insanity began.

Patrick Kane had a shot blocked with 1:25 left. He fired wide of the net with 1:06 remaining. He had back-to-back shots turned away by Semyon Varlamov 10 and 17 seconds later.

Varlamov then saved a Jonathan Toews shot, and somehow stopped Brandon Saad right on the doorstep with 41 seconds left.

So close. But not enough.

The flurries never produced a goal and Carl Soderberg ended up scoring into an empty net, giving Colorado a hard-fought 5-3 victory in a back-and-forth affair that saw the Hawks come back from three 1-goal deficits.

"I get more gray hair by the minute," said smiling Avs coach Jared Bednar. "Last year, I was all dark hair."

The Avs (26-24-11, 63 points) picked up 2 huge points in the crowded race for a wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The Hawks (26-27-9, 61 points) are now 3 points behind Minnesota, which sits in the second position.

Kane, Toews and Jeremy Colliton were all happy with how the Hawks played in their biggest game of the season.

"We were really good," Colliton said. "That was one of our better efforts of the year and certainly recently. Sometimes the results don't go your way, but the challenge is to reproduce that level and if we do we'll get our fair share of points."

Kane became just the seventh player in NHL history to record two 20-game point streaks when tied he game at 2-2 with 29 seconds remaining in the second period.

"No matter what the score, no matter how we start … we're always in the game," said Kane, who also tied Patrick Sharp's franchise record of 13 shots on goal. "There's always a chance to turn the thing around. I like that about our group."

Dylan Strome scored his 16th of the season midway through the second period to tie the game at 1-1, and Alex DeBrincat knotted things up at 3-3 with his 34th goal midway through the third.

The game-winner came after Patrik Nemeth picked off an errant Slater Koekkoek pass and fed J.T. Compher who raced the length of the ice to give Colorado a 4-3 lead with just 5:22 left.

"I'm sure he'd do something different if he could go back," Colliton said. "But he played really hard, really well. He's been very good for us for a long time now."

The Hawks have still won 10 of their last 13 games and remain right in the thick of the playoff picture, but they can't afford to go through any rough patches with just 20 games remaining.

Next up is Dallas, which currently occupies the first wild-card spot.

"It's only going to get tougher and tougher as we go along here," said Toews, who had 2 assists. "Nowhere to run or hide now. I think every team's going to be at their best.

"It's a fun time of year to be right in the mix and to be playing this type of hockey."

Soderberg and Compher both had 2 goals, and Varlamov had 41 saves for the Avs.

Collin Delia stopped 26 shots for the Hawks.

• Follow John's Hawks reports on Twitter @johndietzdh.