Blackhawks encouraged by progress, despite loss to league-leading Avalanche

It sounds strange to be encouraged by a third consecutive loss, but the Blackhawks’ sentiments bordered on that Sunday.

A 1-0 defeat against the NHL-leading Avalanche felt a lot better than getting drubbed 9-3 on Friday by the Sabres.

‘‘If we repeat that performance, we’re winning lots of games,’’ head coach Jeff Blashill said afterward. ‘‘We did an excellent job in our structure, an excellent job of [fixing] some of the things we talked about this morning that we didn’t do in Buffalo.’’

Cale Makar scored the lone goal late in the second period after Hawks goalie Spencer Knight made a rare mistake handling the puck, turning it over in the slot. He recovered to make one save but couldn’t make another.

The Hawks were the superior team in two of the three periods. They generated a 12-4 advantage in scoring chances during a dominant first period — rookie forward Ryan Greene had three Grade-A looks alone — and pushed back with an 8-6 advantage in the third.

It was only the second, as it often has been this season, that let them down. Scoring chances favored the Avs 15-1 during those 20 minutes.

The Avs improved to 16-1-5 with their ninth consecutive victory, completing a sweep of their back-to-back set this weekend. Journeyman goalie Scott Wedgewood, a pain in the Hawks’ side throughout his career, robbed Frank Nazar with 43 seconds left to preserve his shutout.

The Hawks (10-8-4) were blanked for the first time this season — they had scored at least two goals in each of their first 21 games, in fact — and for the first time at home since April 2024.

‘‘We can be both happy with the process [and] not satisfied with the result,’’ forward Jason Dickinson said. ‘‘It sucks, but, for the most part, that’s a lot of good clips that we can go back and watch and be proud of.’’

It’s worth emphasizing again that the most important aspects of this Hawks season are the team learning and progressing.

Their surprising rate of progress during the first two months has spawned wishful dreams about the playoffs, but that shouldn’t distract anyone from the bigger picture. Their roster is still relatively incomplete, with many top prospects still developing en route to the NHL.

‘‘It’s a process, right?’’ defenseman Wyatt Kaiser said. ‘‘You’re trying to take away the things you can grow from and learn. You can look at the positives and say, ‘OK, we’re doing this well. Now what else can we improve on?’

‘‘We were right there with their speed. [In the] first period, you see the transition game. We’re turning pucks over in the neutral zone, and we’re flying. Guys are turning it up, and we’re attacking quickly. I think that’s one of our strengths.’’

Rookie defenseman Artyom Levshunov, for example, is one of many Hawks with a lot of learning and growing to do. And he generally has done that this season.

His decision-making has gotten more predictable, his grasp of what works and what doesn’t against NHL opponents has gotten sharper and his offensive contributions have gotten more plentiful, with nine assists and 30 shots in his last 13 games. He looked slightly less predictable and mentally locked-in Sunday, but Blashill was willing to excuse that.

‘‘[Levshunov] is doing a lot of good things,’’ Blashill said. ‘‘It’s just the balance of those good things vs. those moments of too much risk.

‘‘He does an unreal job in the third [period] skating the puck out, and he’s got ice to his left and tries to go one-on-one. That’s just a growth process of understanding how to attack the game without [biting] off more than you can chew. It’s a process that’s part of what we’re doing this year: allowing these guys to grow. With growth, there are going to be some mistakes.’’