Avs bury Blackhawks

In Chicago, whatever traction the Blackhawks had over the last two weeks, was lost in a dizzying spin of the back axle.

On Friday night, the Colorado Avalanche handed the Hawks a 5-2 loss.

The Avs’ Nathan MacKinnon struck once and had \four points on the night.

“When we get some injuries like this, [MacKinnon’s] really put the team on his back,” Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said. “He’s been consistently hard and heavy on pucks, he’s using his speed, he’s finding a way to contribute every night, he’s making his linemates better while doing it. That’s what you need from your stars, and he’s certainly been the guy who’s been carrying the bulk of the load with some of the guys we’ve had injured.”

Pavel Francouz made 34 saves to get the Avs win/

Zack Smith and Patrick Kane scored for the Blackhawks.

“It was a big divisional game, and we didn’t give ourselves a sniff the entire night,” Chicago’s Jonathan Toews said. “I don’t know if we had as many good chances as they did. I give them credit, they’re a good team. We didn’t start well enough, gave up a lot a little too early.”

J.T. Compher, Ryan Graves,Valeri Nichushkin, and Cale Makar also scored for the Avs.

“I think nowadays, a lot of guys pull in and shoot,” Makar said. “It’s just more deceptive. You want to change it up, but sometimes it’s just like that and I had the defender in front of me, so I decided to pull that one and just shoot it.

“We had some really good offensive opportunities, and it was just a night when we were able to capitalize on more of them than maybe we have been lately.”

[WATCH: All Avalanche vs. Blackhawks highlights]

Corey Crawford made 18 saves in the loss.

“They were just cleaner in the beginning and they found a way to get pucks to the net, and when you do that, you give it an opportunity to go in,” Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton said. “[Crawford] didn’t see a couple of them. There’s a deflection off a glove, but they give themselves a chance for the puck to go in.

“We passed up some shooting opportunities, which, if you find a way to get it through and hit the net, you never know. And we had some shots but we could’ve had even more. We could’ve generated even more chances, and if you do that, maybe you change the momentum of the game, draw a penalty.”