Avalanche 4, Blackhawks 0
T.J. Galiardi had a goal and an assist and Semyon Varlamov made 27 saves for his second shutout of the season as the Colorado Avalanche defeated the host Chicago Blackhawks 4-0 on Friday for their fourth straight victory.
David Jones, David Van der Gulik and Chuck Kobasew also scored for the Avalanche (23-18-1), who moved into a tie for seventh in the Western Conference with their fourth straight road victory. Colorado began the season with six straight wins on the road before losing nine straight prior to their recent run.
Corey Crawford made 18 saves for Chicago. The Blackhawks (24-13-4) have lost three straight and fell to 6-2-1 in the second of back-to-back games this season.
The Avalanche took a 1-0 lead thanks to hard work by Galiardi. The left winger carried the puck from end to end and, after circling the Chicago zone, passed to Erik Johnson at the point. Johnson's shot was deflected past Crawford by Jones, who ended a 15-game goalless drought.
Galiardi made it 2-0 at 1:47 of the second period when he took a feed in front from Paul Stastny and slipped a shot past Crawford, moments after Varlamov stopped Patrick Sharp on a breakaway.
Colorado went ahead 3-0 when rookie Gabriel Landeskog stole the puck behind the Chicago net and pushed it out front, where Van der Gulik beat Crawford with a wrist shot to the glove side at 8:40 of the second for his first goal of the season.
Galiardi completed a Gordie Howe hat trick when he fought Dave Bolland after Bolland tried to deliver a questionable hit on Jones.
Varlamov denied an all-alone Sharp again in the third period to preserve his sixth career shutout.