The Montreal Canadiens and Colorado Avalanche both closed their doubleheaders this afternoon with the Canadiens having their third game in only four days. The Canadiens marched into Ball Arena after two good victories over the Utah Mammoth and the Vegas Golden Knights, while the Avalanche were looking to bounce back after losing 3-2 to the Minnesota Wild.
Game Recap
The game started hot for the first eight minutes of the first period for the Canadiens after they got four grade A chances, one from Zach Bolduc on a one-time attempt, where Mackenzie Blackwood made a phenomenal sliding save, and then two chances from Oliver Kapanen, all shut down by Blackwood. Then, close to the halfway mark, Brock Nelson ripped one past Jakub Dobes and put Colorado up 1-0. Shortly after, the Avalanche scored again; Martin St. Louis challenged for goalie interference after Gabriel Landeskog went sailing into the net, but to no avail, leading to a huge kill by the Canadiens.
The second period was all Avalanche, and it started less than a minute in, when Nelson won the faceoff, and Burns sniped the puck past Dobes to make it a three-goal game. No later than three minutes after Burns’ goal, Nelson had a breakaway and missed the net. Martin Necas recovered the puck and proceeded to make a beautiful pass to Nelson, who was sitting on the back door, and he put the puck in the back of the net to make it 4-0. Halfway through the second, the Canadiens finally showed some life when Ivan Demidov potted a goal, but then the duo of Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon would strike, as MacKinnon capitalized on a rebound chance to make it 5-1 going into the third period.
Colorado continued to handle business with no problems, with Devon Toews and Landeskog scoring, and Lane Hutson putting a one-timer past Blackwood on the power play. The final score was 7-2. Nelson had a four-point night, and Landeskog, Necas, and MacKinnon all had three. Blackwood did what he had to do in between the pipes as well, stopping 21 of 23 shots. Dobes struggled once again, letting in seven, and stopping only 29 of 36.
What’s Next?
The Canadiens look to bounce back on Dec. 2 when they host the Ottawa Senators in Montreal. The Avalanche are the best team in the league and want to continue down that path as they welcome the Vancouver Canucks into town.
