"Take your time, Stan. " (US Presswire photo)

Oh boy.

The Hawks were lucky to not be trailing by several goals at the end of the 1st period.

The opening period saw each team playing rather tentativly, which makes sense as both teams entered the game with long losing streaks. The goaltenders each made some decent saves and the Blackhawks had a power play opportunity that yielded exactly zero shots. Former Minnesota Wild winger Chuck Kobesaw had the best chance of the period in the waning seconds with Ray Emery down and out, but he missed a wide open net. This game didn’t really begin until the 2nd period though.

Brent Seabrook opened the scoring less than a minute into the frame after a long Duncan Keith blast deflected off Viktor Stalberg right to him. Seabs ripped a slap-shot past the blocker of J.S. Giguere for his second goal in as many games. This was just the beginning of a crazy seven minutes which saw four goals scored.

Two minutes after the Seabs goal, Jonathan Toews couldn’t handle a Patrick Kane pass inside the Colorado blue line and Peter Mueller and Ryan O’Reilly came back the other way two-on-one. O’Reilly got Razor moving his way and slid the puck across to Mueller who buried it into a wide open net. Just 35 seconds later, Keith lost control of the puck at the Hawks blue line and Milan Hejduk moved in three-on-one, setting up David Jones - who put it where momma keeps the cookies.  While Keith clearly gave the puck away, Razor was down very, very early on this one. Fast-forward 2 minutes, Patrick Sharp moved into the Avs zone and beautifully set up a streaking Kane on his backhand, who buried it over the glove of Giguere. Kaner was on his game all night and in the early stages it looked like he might take the game over, but that never materialized.

The 3rd period started disastrously for the Blackhawks. For the second time in three games,  Stalberg gave the puck away at the opponents blue line with the result being a puck in the back of the Hawks net. While Stalberg has to get that puck deep, Brent Seabrook was completely uninterested in the three-on-two coming his way and let Gabriel Landeskog move into the slot area completely unopposed. Emery never had a chance on the Landeskog blast. The Avs put the dagger in the Hawks with 8:18 remaining. After a horrendous PP, several Blackhawks (Michael Frolik and Marcus Kruger) got caught deep in the Avs zone and David Jones was spung up the ice and only had to beat Sean O’Donnell to get a clean shot off. Upon completing that easy task, Jones (who apparently only scores on the Blackhawks) had no problem putting a wrist shot past the glove of Ray Emery. Kyle Quincey ended the scoring with an empty net goal with just over 2 minutes to go in the game.

Couple of quick thoughts after a crushing defeat:

♦ I lost count after the Avs 5th odd man break of the evening. Several of these came while the Hawks had a man advantage.

♦ David Bolland threw a knee halfway through the 2nd period at Landeskog and would have been suspend for a good long time had he connected. Nobody loves his “Rat” act more than me, but stuff like that ends careers. Total douche move.

♦Am I the only person who caught Kobesaw boarding Andrew Shaw after he missed the wide open net? How the hell was that not called?

♦Viktor Stalberg would have had a highlight reel goal had he been able to bury it in the 2nd period. It was positively Roenickesque. Unfortunatly, his giveaway that led to the 3rd Avs goal marred what was otherwise a very good night for him.

♦ Steve Montador left the game in the 2nd period and didn’t return. This probably means more John Scott – which is just what a team playing shitty hockey needs.

♦ Note to teams playing Ray Emery: shoot high.

♦ With the Blackhawks losing, it was only natural that Vancouver, Nashville, St. Louis and Los Angles picked up points tonight.

♦ Fortunately we don’t have to watch any more of this crap until Friday night  when the Hawks visit San Jose.