Avalanche Use Late-Game Heroics to Defeat Blackhawks 3-2 in Shootout

The Avalanche rallied to defeat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 in a shootout at United Center on Wednesday. Cale Makar set the single-season franchise record for goals by a defenseman and Martin Necas tied the game with 11 seconds left in regulation while Scott Wedgewood stopped 22 of the 24 shots he faced in net.

"It was good to see our guys get rewarded for some of their hard work here," Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar said.

With the win, the Avalanche improved to 46-26-4.

How It Happened

Chicago's Ilya Mikheyev opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal at 14:39 of the first period.

Connor Murphy doubled Chicago's lead with a goal at 8:17 of the second period.

Makar put the Avs on the board at 9:17 of the third period with his 29th goal of the season via a right-circle wrist shot set up by MacKinnon's feed. That tally set the single-season franchise record for goals by a defenseman, previously set by Makar in 2021-22.

With the Avs' net empty, Necas tied the game with his 27th goal of the season via a redirect on Makar's right-point wrist shot at 19:50 of the third period. That tally marked the 10th six-on-five goal for the Avs this season, which leads the league and sets a new single-season franchise record.

After neither team scored in the first round of the shootout, MacKinnon scored in the second round and Artturi Lehkonen scored in the third round to win the game for Colorado.

Next Up

The Avalanche continue their road trip on Thursday against the Columbus Blue Jackets at 5:30 p.m. MT on Altitude and Altitude+.