The Colorado Avalanche’s Tomas Fleischmann added some excitement to Wednesday night’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks. Fleischmann scored a hat-trick in the third period to lift the Avalanche 4-3 over the Blackhawks. He scored the first two on power plays and with only two minutes in between to put Colorado up 3-1.
Jonathan Toews cut the lead to 3-2 three minutes later, but Fleischmann answered back at 14:42. Troy Brouwer scored a goal with two seconds left to play, but it was too little too late.
The first star of the game, Fleischmann now has nine goals on the season, five since he arrived in Colorado. This was his first career hat trick.
Greg Mauldin scored the Avalanche’s first goal at 13:39 in the first period. Matt Duchene had two assists on the night. Adam Foote, David Jones, Ryan O’Byrne, Kevin Shattenkirk, Paul Stastny and Daniel Winnik each had an assist in the game.
The Avalanche’s Craig Anderson stopped 35 of 38 shots and earned the second star of the game. Corey Crawford faced only 23 shots and saved just 19.
Colorado (17-10-4, 38 points) are 3-0 against the Chicago Blackhawks this season (with one game left to play). The victory gave the Avalanche their fourth straight win. They take the Pepsi Center ice again on Friday, Dec. 17 against the Ottawa Senators.