About Last Night: Canadiens rewarded for riding hot hand of Jakub Dobes

Captain Nick Suzuki scored two goals and added an assist in a 7-3 romp for the Canadiens (30-17-7) over the Colorado Avalanche (35-8-9), dressed in Quebec Nordiques sweaters, at the Bell Centre on Thursday.

Montreal returned the favour after conceding a touchdown and extra point the last time both teams faced off. It was the team’s last home game before the coming Olympic break.

Jakub Dobes started his second consecutive game and extended his season record to 17-5-3 with a 26-save performance.

The Avalanche remain atop the NHL standings by a healthy margin, but they’ve gone 2-4-2 in their last eight games.

The Canadiens opened scoring less than a minute into the game. Noah Dobson scored his 10th of the season. The blue liner has reached that plateau his last five seasons.

It didn’t take long for the Avalanche to draw even. Brock Nelson scored his 28th of the season on what ended up being Dobes’ only real blemish on the night.

Suzuki then took over with two goals in under two minutes. One on the power play, followed by another short-handed. The potent Avalanche have shockingly given up nine short-handed goals on the season — 3-1 Habs after 20 minutes.

Dobes kept his team in it with the Avalanche pressing in the second period. All three second-period goals were scored in a span of 90 seconds. Jake Evans followed up his overtime heroics on Tuesday against Vegas by picking goalie Scott Wedgewood’s pocket to make it 4-1.

Kirby Dach is looking more and more like his old self. He scored his first goal since returning from injury on a bank shot to give Montreal a 5-1 advantage.

The Avalanche kept it close before the end of the period. Dobes made the initial acrobatic save, but Jiri Kiviranta was perfectly placed to pot home the rebound to put Colorado within three goals.

The Avalanche are a dominant third-period team, and they made Habs fans sweat early in the frame when Ross Colton beat Dobes in front after Lane Hutson blew a tire.

The Canadiens kept responding, and just over a minute later, Alexandre Carrier scored on a two-on-one, thanks to a Dach block, to reinstate Montreal’s three-goal lead.

Right before the midway point of the third, Juraj Slafkovsky made it a laugher by scoring his 20th goal of the season — 7-3 final in the latest chapter of the Battle of Quebec, sort of.

Even though the Habs put up seven goals on the best team in the league, Dobes made the necessary stops when called upon. His breakaway save on Sam Girard in the second period might’ve been the game’s turning point. A one-goal game at the midpoint could’ve changed the entire complexion of the night. Instead, Dobes stretched out the pad and Evans scored six minutes later.

That’s why, despite a pedestrian 2.96 goals against average and .890 save percentage, the Liveblog commenters on the Hockey Inside Out YouTube livestream feel pretty comfortable with the acrobatic Czech in goal. With three games left until the break, why not ride it out with the hot hand and let Samuel Montembeault work with new goalie coach Marco Marciano on straightening out for the stretch drive?

It was a strange night for Cole Caufield, who was held pointless in just 12:49. His six-game goal scoring streak came to an end.

The Liveblog commenters held their collective breath after Kaiden Guhle raced back to dressing room clutching his shoulder after a hit by Josh Manson, but he returned and laid a huge hit of his own not long after. Guhle and his fellow oft-injured teammate Dach finally looked like themselves on the ice after such long layoffs. The commenters hope Dach proved he’s ready to supplant Alexandre Texier on the top line. The French forward has only one assist in his last six games.

Dach was Hockey Stat Cards’ forward of the night.

Here’s what the commenters had to say during the livestream.

3. “When Colorado scored early this period it didn’t faze the team.” — Ryan Katz 2. “Last season the Habs benefited from the 4 nation break This year the Habs could be “a bat out of hell” after the Olympic Break. Unbelievable effort the last 2 games.” — Rick Woods 1. “They’re going to burn those (Nordiques) sweaters. Ridiculous idea anyway.” — Carin Latzel