MONTREAL— At 4-9-1, the Avalanche left Colorado with trade rumours swirling around them at gale force.
A failing six-game road trip would’ve stimulated major changes for their team. Instead, they’ve now strung three straight wins together to keep themselves afloat.
Saturday’s 6-1 win over Montreal was achieved in a shocking manner. The Avalanche chased goaltender Mike Condon from the game with four goals on their first 11 shots, handing the Canadiens their first home-ice loss in regulation.
Let’s dig deeper on how that happened.
Nathan MacKinnon put on a show
He scored the game-winner 18:25 into the first period and then added the insurance marker 13 seconds later. Both plays were world class.
“He’s a great player,” said Canadiens defenceman P.K. Subban. “With time and space, skilled players can do damage.”
“He’s got a quick release and a fast shot,” said Condon. That’s why MacKinnon now has eight goals in 19 games to lead the Avalanche in scoring.
Condon knows the fourth goal was the killer
Montreal’s Brendan Gallagher scored a key goal to make the score 3-1 in the second period. The momentum shifted quickly to the Canadiens favour less than three minutes later when Matt Duchene took a high-sticking penalty 200 feet from his own net.
But as the Canadiens worked through their power play, Subban made a blind pass to Andrei Markov, who wasn’t in a position to corral it, and Blake Comeau stormed down the ice and took a weak slapshot through Condon’s legs.
“I thought we were coming back in the second period there,” said Condon. “We had a power play, but the guy came down and I gotta make that save and it kinda killed the momentum for the boys. So I gotta take ownership for that.
“If I make that save, I think it’s a different game.”
Condon took to the bench for the third period. It was the first time he’d been pulled from a game in over a year, as he hadn’t been pulled once in the AHL with the Hamilton Bulldogs last season.
It was also Condon’s first regulation loss in the NHL (6-1-2).
Corsi for doesn’t mean you score
The shot attempts were 31-15 in favour of Montreal in the first period. They were 59-21 after two.
Colorado had only recorded a single shot in the third period when Montreal’s Tom Gilbert took a penalty 10 minutes and 12 seconds in.
“We were dynamic tonight,” said Canadiens coach Michel Therrien. “After two periods, we were down 4-1 with double the shots or triple the shots. We had 33 against 11 and we were down 4-1. It was one of those nights.”
You could say execution was lacking on Montreal’s end, as Subban did after the game.
Canadiens power play didn’t deliver
The Canadiens came into the game having recorded a power play goal in each of their last seven contests. They went 0-4 against Colorado despite taking eight of their 40 shots with the man-advantage.
Reto Berra on fire
He came into the game leading the NHL’s best save percentage and goals against average, and he improved his numbers in Montreal.
Berra’s appeared in eight games and started seven of them, recording a .953 save percentage and a 1.50 goals against average. And yet, he’s 4-3-0.
The Avalanche allowed 40 shots on net Saturday, bringing the total Berra has faced to 233. They’re going to have to cut that down if he’s going to continue earning wins for them.
And Berra will be put to the test. Starter Semyon Varlamov suffered a lower-body injury in Boston Thursday.
“He was phenomenal, especially in the first period,” said Avalanche head coach and goaltending legend Patrick Roy. “Reto is playing with a lot of confidence and doing what we need from him. We have two good goaltenders, and we’ll rely on both of them.”
