Hockey

The Nordiques are too strong for the Habs
Jonathan Di Gregorio
The Nordiques are too strong for the Habs
Credit: DansLesCoulisses.com

This afternoon, the Canadiens completed their three-game road trip with a stopover in Colorado to take on the Avalanche, who wore their retro Nordiques jerseys for the occasion.

Here's the line-up for both teams.

The Habs were awarded the first powerplay, but Mackenzie Blackwood made several fine saves to close the door on the visitors.

Despite the Habs' good chances, it was the Avalanche who scored first when Brock Nelson foiled Jakub Dobes with help from Artturi Lehkonen and Joel Kiviranta. It was Nelson's 600th career point.

Then, Gabriel Landeskog scored Colorado's second goal (initially credited to Nelson) when Josh Anderson brought him down and the two came into contact with Dobes, who was unable to make the save. The Canadiens tried to contest the goal, but were unsuccessful. Nelson and Cale Makar got assists on the play.

The goal slowed the Habs down considerably, and the rest of the period was pretty uneventful.

colorado 2-0 after one period.

Although the Habs got a good scoring chance through Mike Matheson, it was veteran Brent Burns who scored the home side's third on a Nelson pass with less than a minute elapsed in the second period.

Nelson then added to his tally by scoring his second goal, his fourth of the game, with the help of Martin Necas and Lehkonen to give the hosts a four-goal lead.

The Canadiens finally got going midway through the second period when Ivan Demidov beat Blackwood to a beautiful pass from Juraj Slafkovsky.

The Montrealers got a few chances to score after opening the scoring, but it was Nathan MacKinnon who came to hurt the Habs badly with less than a minute to play in the second, scoring his 20th goal of the season on assists from Landeskog and Makar.

5-1 to the hosts after 40 minutes of play.

The Avalanche picked up where they left off in the third period when Devon Toews took advantage of a bad Habs turnover to score his team's sixth goal with help from Necas and MacKinnon.

Then, Lane Hutson took advantage of a powerplay to score his fourth goal of the season with the help of Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki.

It was also with the man advantage that Landeskog scored his second goal of the game. MacKinnon and Necas picked up assists on the play.

Final score: 7-2 defeat for the Habs.

However, despite the score difference, the Habs didn't necessarily play a bad game, but the Avalanche were much more opportunistic as Dobes failed to make key saves and Blackwood made sure to close the door when the visitors threatened.

We also saw why Colorado is currently at the top of the NHL standings, as the team's talent clearly made the difference today.

Next up for the Habs is Tuesday's visit of the Ottawa Senators at the Bell Centre.


Extensions

Despite the Habs' defeat today, against the best team in the NHL no less, we mustn't forget that the team had a good trip, with two wins in three games against good teams.

The Habs need to put this afternoon's game behind them and focus on what they did well in the previous three games if they are to continue their success in December, when they play eight of their next eleven games at home.

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