3 takeaways from the Chicago Blackhawks' surprising upset of the Colorado Avalanche

Injuries have depleted an already thin roster to the point where winning is nearly impossible for the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Blackhawks found a way to make the impossible, possible on Tuesday night at the United Center.

The Hawks topped the Central division-leading Colorado Avalanche by a goal. Yes, you read that right, the worst team in the NHL, let alone in the division, picked up two points in the standings over a Stanley Cup contender. Colorado is now tied for first for the division lead with Dallas.

The Blackhawks were without four of their top defensemen and still managed to hold one of the best-scoring attacks to two goals. Seth Jones and Jared Tinordi are on IR. Kevin Korchinski just returned to the team after missing time due to the passing of his father, and Alex Vlasic is day-to-day with an injury. Forwards Andreas Athanasiou and Joey Anderson are also on IR while Taylor Hall has been lost for the season. It did not help that top-line forward Philipp Kurashev was a last-minute scratch due to an illness.

Hey, Colin Blackwell finally returned to the ice after being out since last February.

Despite skating without several of their key players, the Chicago Blackhawks found a way to beat a team with three players that were coming in hot. Although, the Avalanche came into the game not playing their best hockey. They were 4-4-2 over their last 10 games before this contest. Although, they were 3-1 over the past four. Those three wins came over teams similar to the Hawks in the standings and the Avs destroyed those three teams. The gritty Hawks did not suffer the same fate.

Petr Mrazek was a wall in goal.

If the Chicago Blackhawks have any hope of winning this season, they need Mrazek to stand on his head. He did just that when he turned away 35 of 37 shots.

Colorado's two goals came on the power play scored by Valeri Nichushkin. He was one of three players coming in on a hot streak, so it is hard to get on Mrazek for allowing two goals to Nichushkin.

It looked like the Avs would cruise to an easy victory after going up 2-1. Then Reichel scored the equalizer and Mrazek settled down.

The power play came through.

It was not a great night for the penalty kill, but the Hawks' power play produced the game-winning goal. One of the league's worst scoring units on the man advantage found a way to win the game in the third period. The unit did it early in the power play when Tyler Johnson found the back of the net.

Scoring early was impressive considering the power play first's unit could barely muster getting the puck into the offensive zone during a second-period man advantage set.

With Seth Jones and Kevin Korchinski out, Richardson has had trouble finding someone capable of quarterbacking the unit. He has tried Zaitsev who came through this time. Normally, on the power play, he has looked like a player who spends more time as a healthy scratch. Shoot, Richardson had to put out five forwards at one point against the Vancouver Canucks last weekend.

This combination found a way to score the winning goal and the Hawks picked up an unlikely two points in the standings.