Nathan MacKinnon, Avalanche Dominate Connor Bedard, Blackhawks Again 5-0

Nathan MacKinnon dominated again, posting two goals and two assists to lead the Colorado Avalanche past the freefalling Chicago Blackhawks 5-0 in Denver on Monday night.

MacKinnon upped his totals to 39 goals and 105 points to tie Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov for the NHL scoring lead.

The Blackhawks team-record road losing streak reached 22 games. Chicago dropped its seventh overall and is 1-12-3 in its last 16.

Rookie Colorado goalie Justus Annunen made 36 saves as he blanked the Blackhawks for the second time in five days. He blocked 24 shots in a 5-0 Avalanche win in Chicago last Thursday for his first NHL shutout.

The Blackhawks were shut out for the ninth time this season. Petr Mrazek stopped 32 shots, but the surging Avs were in control most of the way.

Blackhawks top defenseman Seth Jones, whose parents were in the stands, said the Blackhawks just didn't work together to generate any sustained attack.

"Not a lot of pushback there," Jones said. "A lot of outside shots, nothing really in the crease, not a lot of net-front traffic. Nothing earth-shattering.

"We just need to find a way to play together as a team instead of everyone trying to do it themselves, play individual. It ends up the in the back of our net when that happens." See following video.

Annunen denied NHL leading rookie scorer Connor Bedard on a breakaway at 4:50 of the second period.

Bedard skated in alone from the Avs' blue line after rookie defenseman Kevin Korchinski whipped a crisp pass up the middle from deep in the Chicago zone. Annunen, playing in just his 10th NHL game, snared Bedard's low shot on the glove side.

Annunen stopped Chicago defenseman Alex Vlasic on a close-in chance about 8 minutes into the third.

Cale Makar, Jonathan Drouin and Zach Parise also scored for the Avalanche, who took three of four games from the Blackhawks this season. 

Each win was shutout, but Chicago ground out a 3-2 win at the United Center on Dec. 19 when Bedard assisted on two goals and quarterbacked the game-winner without getting credit on the scoresheet.

The 25-year-old Makar's 14th goal was his first since Feb 6. He helped set up MacKinnon's score in the first period to give him 233 assists for his career – moving him past Tyson Barrie to set a new record for an Avs defensemen.

Colorado defenseman Josh Manson, who slashed Bedard on the right forearm in the third period in Chicago last Thursday, sat out with a lower-body injury.

Manson's slash was flagrant, but no penalty was called. It stung Bedard. He was ticked and went to the bench, but then continued playing.  

Before Monday's rematch with the Avalanche in Denver, Bedard chuckled and laughed off the whack as a "love tap" from the 32-year-old Manson. See our story with videos.

MacKinnon opened the scoring at 12:31 of the first. He beat Jason Dickinson — the Blackhawks best defensive center — on the right side, closed in and ripped a shot past Mrazek.

Drouin made it 2-0 with 2:38 left in the period on a 2-on-1 after a Chicago coverage mix-up.

Set up by passes from Mikko Rantanen, then MacKinnon, Makar made it 3-0 at 12:38 of the second. Makar took the feed between the circles, closed in and beat Mrazek high on the stick side. 

Parise deflected in Caleb Jones' shot with 2:22 left in the second to up it to 4-0. MacKinnon fed Jones at the blueline.

MacKinnon got credit for a power-play goal with 4:25 left in the third when his shot deflected in of defenseman Jaycob Megna.

Seth Jones played against his younger brother, Colorado blueliner Caleb Jones, for the first time in an NHL game.

Seth, 29, and Caleb 26, both skated for the Blackhawks in 2021-22 and  2022-23.