Avalanche News: Bad loss to Blackhawks, Devon Toews’s honesty, and more

The Chicago Blackhawks shockingly defeated the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 on Tuesday night at the United Center. It was the perfect example of any team in the league showing up big on any given night. 

It was impressive for the Hawks because they were missing Seth Jones, Kevin Korchinski, and Alex Vlasic. Half of their starting defense was out of the lineup and it isn’t a very good defense to begin with. 

Of course, a Stanley Cup contender like the Colorado Avalanche was embarrassed to lose a game in that type of situation. They need to be better and they know it. They won’t win the Central Division with play like that. 

The Colorado Avalanche need to be better or they will continue to slip.

Devon Toews's truth

Devon Toews went to the media and did something that we don't see very often. He called out some of his teammates and wasn't nice about it.

He said that some players on the team may think they are playing well but they aren't. He made it clear that they can't win if guys aren't doing what they are supposed to be doing within their system.

Toews is one of the better defenders in the NHL. He is far from the problem in terms of on-ice play with the Colorado Avalanche. He is the perfect partner for the best defenseman in the NHL, Cale Makar.

To be fair, Makar is hurt right now and wasn't in this game. Things may have gone differently if he were there but a team like the Avalanche doesn't make those types of excuses. Toews believes what he is saying and now the team needs to respond to it.

Moving Forward

Now the Colorado Avalanche has to move on from this. Some of the players on this team might want to take the advice from Devon Toews and work harder to be better. The Avalanche has a proven successful system and people need to buy into it.

On Thursday night, we'll be able to see how they respond to this at home against the Ottawa Senators. Ottawa has had more turmoil than the other 31 teams combined this season so it could be the perfect "get right" recipe for the Avs.

If they don't play them well, however, they will lose. They saw how easy it was to lose to a horrible team when they paid a visit to Chicago. This Avalanche squad has multiple future Hall of Famers in the locker room which should help them figure it out.