After a disappointing showing last night against the Ottawa Senators, in which Colorado lost by a final score of 5-2, the Avs came out flat once again on the second leg of a back-to-back. A 7-3 loss against the Montreal Canadiens was tonight’s result. This was the third time in the month of January in which Colorado has lost by a final score of 7-3.
Let’s take a look at the action from tonight.
The Canadiens would get on the board first not even a minute into the game, as the Avs had a miscommunication on defense off a face-off, and Noah Dobson was left all alone to rip it past Scott Wedgewood on a sharp angle.
Fortunately for Colorado, Brock Nelson would tie it up for Colorado after that, though, as he made a great move to stick-handle into the offensive zone, and put a great shot past Montreal goaltender Jakub Dobes.
Nick Suzuki would quickly give the Canadiens a 2-1 lead after that on the power play, as he wasn’t picked up in front of the Colorado net, and managed to bury a rebound past Wedgewood.
Colorado would then allow a short-handed goal while on the power play, as Suzuki managed to get into the Avs’ zone all alone behind the defense, and made no mistake. The Avalanche now lead the NHL with nine shorthanded goals against. It really punctuates how futile this power play truly is for Colorado.
It was a fairly quiet second period until Jake Evans would make it 4-1 Montreal, as Wedgewood would misplay a puck behind his own net, resulting in essentially an empty net goal for Evans.
Kirby Dach would then get maybe a bit of a lucky one, as he tries to go for a wrap-around attempt, and the puck would bang off of Josh Manson’s skate, and into the back of the net. It really wasn’t Scott Wedgewood’s night.
Joel Kiviranta would manage to stop the bleeding for a moment after that, as he managed to get one back and make it 5-2. Were there signs of live for Colorado at this point with a period left to go?
Ross Colton would make things interesting early on in the third period, as Val Nichushkin was able to find him right in front of the Montreal net, and Colton was able to put the puck past Dobes. It was Colton’s first goal scored since November.
Almost immediately after that, the Avs would give that goal right back, as Alexandre Carrier would finish a 2-on-1 play to make it 6-3 for Montreal. This goal was really the back breaker as it ended any sort of come back momentum Colorado had.
Another defensive breakdown would lead to Juraj Slafkovsky being left alone in front of the Avs’ net once again, and he deposited the puck into the back of an empty net, for your final score of 7-3.
It’s very clear that this team is ready for the break and just trying not to get hurt leading up to the Olympics, but that doesn’t mean this brand of hockey is any fun to watch, still. Similar to last night, nothing went right for Colorado. Passes weren’t connecting, you had a handful of bad defensive breakdowns that resulted in goals, you lost the special teams battle, and you lost it badly at that by giving up a shorthanded goal. On top of that, when you got even the slightest bit of life in the third period, you almost immediately gave it back, as I said, not a fun brand of hockey to watch whatsoever, especially when you know how good this team is. Hopefully, they can find something against Detroit and San Jose in their last three games before the NHL Olympic break.
Colorado wraps up their road trip against the Detroit Red Wings to begin a home-and-home on Saturday, January 31. Puck drop will be at 11 a.m. MT nationally televised on ABC.
