Avalanche  3    Blackhawks  4

Colorado Avalanche (2-1-0) at Chicago Blackhawks (1-1-1), 8:30 p.m.

Sports Network | October 10, 2009

(Sports Network) - The Chicago Blackhawks will hold their 2009-10 home opener when the Colorado Avalanche continue a lengthy early road trip with tonight's visit to the United Center.

The Blackhawks began their season with a pair of matchups against the Florida Panthers in Finland, where the club managed a shutout win along with a shootout loss. Chicago returned to the United States this week but dropped its first game on the mainland, a 3-2 verdict to rival Detroit Thursday at Joe Louis Arena.

Cristobal Huet recorded 20 saves for the Blackhawks, but the veteran goaltender allowed three second-period goals that spurred the Red Wings to victory. Patrick Sharp and Kris Versteeg each had a goal and an assist for Chicago in a losing cause.

The Blackhawks fell despite outshooting the defending Western Conference champion Red Wings by a 34-23 margin.

"We want to show everyone that we're a good team," said Sharp. "We want to get better every day and this was an opportunity to beat a good team. I think we let one slip away here."

Chicago aims to rebound this evening in the first of three straight games at the United Center, where the team compiled a strong 24-9-8 record en route to its first postseason appearance since 2001-02. The upstart Blackhawks advanced all the way to the Western Conference finals before being ousted by the Red Wings in five games.

The Blackhawks are expected to get center Dave Bolland back in the lineup for tonight's home opener after he sat out Thursday's tilt with a sore back.

Colorado kicked off its 2009-10 campaign with back-to-back home wins over San Jose and Vancouver, but came up short in its bid for its first 3-0 start in 15 years Thursday in Nashville, where the Predators netted a pair of third-period goals to rally for a 3-2 decision.

Patric Hornqvist had both late scores for Nashville, with the goals coming just 2:17 apart.

"When you have a 2-1 lead on the road in the third period, that's a hard one to swallow," Colorado head coach Joe Sacco remarked.

Marek Svatos gave the Avalanche a 2-1 lead at the 7:44 mark of the third period, taking a feed from T.J. Hensick and beating Predators netminder Dan Ellis with Colorado on the power play.

Kyle Quincy had the other goal for the Avs, while goaltender Craig Anderson stopped 34-of-37 shots on the night.

Thursday's matchup was the first of seven consecutive road games for Colorado, which went just 14-24-3 as the visitor during its forgettable 2008-09 season. The Avalanche finished in the basement of the Western Conference with just 69 points a year ago.

Colorado did split four meetings with the Blackhawks last season and snapped a three-game road losing streak in the series with a 5-1 triumph at the United Center this past March.