Montreal is the latest mark in Colorado

• Jayden Struble is out today with an upper-body injury, so Adam Engström will play his second NHL game, paired with Alexandre Carrier.
• The Avalanche are wearing Quebec Nordiques jerseys, so expect a bench-clearing brawl at some point today. Montreal should have worn their reds for the matchup. (I think there are several cases where both teams could wear their dark jerseys.

First period

• Jakub Dobeš is called upon to make an early tough save off Brock Nelson.
• Montreal is doing well enough to start, with three shots in the opening two minutes plus.
• Zachary Bolduc takes a stick in the face on the breakout, and Montreal will get the game’s first power play. They have to make these count today.
• Bolduc gets a perfect setup from Hutson and Mackenzie Blackwood needs a perfect lateral push to deny him. Nick Suzuki gets three whacks at the opposite side moments later.
• The second unit comes out and has the best chance of all, but another incredible save from Blackwood denies Brendan Gallagher.
• Four shots for Montreal on that power play, and two of them were good enough to have been goals.
• As good as the start has been, it’s the Avalanche who open the scoring, and the lane for Nelson opens up because Arber Xhekaj trips over the heels of Carrier while trying to defend the front of the net.
• A smart little touch from Alexandre Texier puts the puck to a place only Jake Evans can reach it for another scoring chance. I like him so far.
• It’s Josh Anderson’s turn for a rush as Hutson finds him behind the coverage. Blackwood comes up huge once more. The goaltender is bailing out his team from a sleepy start.
• Montreal is pushing a little too hard trying to tie the game here and letting the Avalanche forwards get behind them.
• Anderson loses body position on Gabriel Landeskog as he heads to crease and shoves him into Dobeš. The goaltender has no chance to stop the shot that comes in from Nelson.
• Martin St-Louis challenges, and I think all that is going to do is put Colorado on a power play with a two-goal lead.
• And that is indeed what happens. A bad challenge.
• An important kill from Montreal, despite a few flubbed opportunities to clear the zone.
• There must be someone with a Habs jersey sitting in the first row about halfway into the Habs’ zone, because the Canadiens have played the puck there twice now with no player anywhere in the vicinity.
• We have a pause here as the hole that is supposed to hold the peg for Dobeš’s net isn’t doing its job. The ice does look quite terrible today.
• I don’t know what Carrier thought he was doing on defence, but he ended up way out in the high slot as the Avalanche worked a two-on-one down low where he should have been.
• The period ends with Colorado up 2-0. Montreal played well enough to at least be tied, but their errors were costly, and Blackwood was too strong.

Second period

• Suzuki is yanked back as he tries to join Caufield for a two-on-one, but Mike Matheson makes something of the situation by performing a spin-o-rama and works in for a backhand on Blackwood, who stops another scoring chance.
• Nelson flies down the wing on a counter-attack, and is denied of the hat trick by the post.
• On the ensuing faceoff, Nelson wins the draw right to Brent Burns, and the veteran defenceman makes it 3-0.
• Colorado gets a two-on-zero with Montreal pressing. The Habs are still scrambling to get back on defence when Nelson gets the puck at the side of the net for a tap-in to complete his hat trick.
• Any semblance of structure has evaporated from Montreal’s game now, Just five players chasing the puck, and giving the Avalanche way too much respect in transition by handing them the blue line.
• Kapanen adds a 15th shot for Montreal by coming off the boards and trying to go high short side on Blackwood.
• On shot #16, they finally solve him and end a shutout streak of over 170 minutes. Ivan Demidov gets the goal on yet another perfect pass from Juraj Slafkovský.

Slaf hits the spin move and tees up Ivan Demidov for a slick goal

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— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) November 29, 2025 at 5:26 PM

• It is good to see some pushback. It looked like they had given up after the third goal.
• It seems Colorado has had enough fun today and is now focused on locking things down defensively.
• Florian Xhekaj gets the greatest chance for his first NHL goal, but just as he goes to take his shot from about 20 feet, his stick snaps in half.
• Seconds later, the second line breaks up the ice on a three-on-one. Slafkovský gets the puck to Demidov, but his one-timer goes just wide.
• It’s not exactly a line brawl, but Kapanen and Martin Necas are off to the penalty box for a tussle.
• Dobeš stops a shot from Landeskog, but his rebound pops over to MacKinnon, who deftly kicks the puck to his stick and hits the net for a fifth goal.
• Montreal registered one more shot after Demidov’s goal at 8:27.
• The Avalanche will increase their season and home goals-per-game average, and still have a period to go to boost if further.

Third period

• Can Montreal at least win a period to end this game? That could at least be a little bit of consolation.
• Montreal had two shifts in the offensive zone, but the last one was played with just four players on the ice. The Avalanche got the puck, saw there was only one player back, and went on to score on a two-on-one from the top of their own circles. Defenceman Devon Toews completed the play.
• Toews takes a slashing penalty. The comeback begins on this power play….
• Hutson makes it 6-2 with a slapshot.
• Evans is heading off for a phantom high stick, he’s asking MacKinnon to absolve him of any guilt, but the Avalanche forward doesn’t oblige.
• The five-goal lead is restored when MacKinnon tosses the puck off the knee of Landeskog and in on the power play.
• Anderson goes off for cross-checking Necas.
• The Powerhorse is back in the box, this time for slashing Necas. He doesn’t seem to like him.
• Montreal is just going through the motions on the PK. The Avalanche weren’t able to add an eighth, however.
• The fourth line ramps up for one last bit of pressure in the offensive zone, and Gallagher comes close to scoring a third goal, but that is all.
• The game ends in a 7-2 win for Colorado. It may have gone differently with a goal or two in the first period, but alas.
• The three teams Montreal faced on this trip currently hold a combined home record of 22-7-7, so you can’t be too upset about a 2-1 record.
• Montreal will now have two days off before another back-to-back at home against Ottawa and Winnipeg. Hopefully they’ll use that time to work on their defence.

EOTP 3 Stars

3) Welcome!

2) I didn’t like the challenge, but I can appreciate this point of view

1) If it ain’t broke…