The Colorado Avalanche returned to Denver fresh off division rival Minnesota ending their 10-game winning streak yesterday and dominated the Montreal Canadiens with a 7-2 victory. The Avs had a nice schedule advantage coming in as both teams were tired but Montreal has been making their way through the West the last few days and teams always get tired on the opposite side of the country (North America, I guess?). The Avalanche took full advantage early and often.

Colorado came out of the gates a little sleepy, but Brock Nelson shook free and scored the first of two goals to give the Avs a 1-0 lead. The Avs added another, more controversial goal as Gabe Landeskog was crashing the net but Habs forward Josh Anderson pushed him into his own netminder and then took his legs out, which erased Jakub Dobes’s ability to make a save.

It was a wonky play, but it was called a good goal on the ice and after Montreal challenged for goaltender interference. The Avs got the second goal and while it was initially ruled Nelson’s second goal, replays showed the puck deflected off Landeskog’s skate on its way into the net so Landeskog got a bit of a freebie goal. Of course, that felt fitting after the way Landeskog has had three goals taken away this year, so it seems fair enough.

A 2-0 lead after the first period is shaky ground because the Avs typically get better as they go and today was no different. They scored twice in the first 3:55 of the second period to push their lead to 4-0 as they got goals from Brent Burns and Nelson (for real this time). That second goal made it four points for Nelson, who had the best day of his Avalanche tenure.

The Canadiens ended Colorado goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood’s shutout streak at 173:31, the third-longest in franchise history, with an Ivan Demidov goal to cut the lead to 4-1. Instead of letting Montreal build their way to another epic comeback (thinking back to last year’s Montreal-Colorado game in Montreal…), Nathan MacKinnon scored on a rebound from a Landeskog shot to make it 5-1 after two periods. The assist gave Landeskog his first multi-point game of the season.

Fireworks continued in the third period as Devon Toews got his first goal of the year, thanks to Montreal defenseman accidentally putting a Toews centering feed into his own net. Then, Lane Hutson rocketed a one-timer on the power play to make it 6-2, but Landeskog tipped a puck home on an Avalanche power play to bring the game to 7-2.

It was a busy period, but the game ended with another regulation win for the Avs.

Second line jolts to life

Rudo and I talked on last night’s postgame podcast that the Avalanche depth had gone a little quiet recently and that it was primarily on the second line, particularly Brock Nelson and Gabe Landeskog, to provide that second wave of offense behind the brilliance of the MacKinnon-Necas combination up top.

Orrrrrrrrr Nelson could be the catalyst for four consecutive goals and record the fourth four-point game of his NHL career. That works, too. Some of Nelson’s points have been cheap, giving a little extra fuel to the haters, but there was nothing cheap today. Nelson was awesome and earned his accolades today.

Alongside Nelson’s big day was Landeskog, who had a slow start to the year and didn’t look anything like the player we saw in the postseason last spring. Over the last handful of games, however, we’ve seen Landeskog shaking off some rust and his heart-of-a-warrior game-tying goal in Minnesota yesterday hinted that maybe the big rig was back in full action.

Today, it’s even easier to dream on Landeskog’s game after a three-point (2G, 1A) outing.

Another shutout streak ends

While Blackwood won’t be a prominent story in a game where the Avalanche offense exploded for seven more goals, I don’t want to overlook what a strong performance he put in once again.

Sure, his shutout streak ended and he was still about 20 minutes behind two separate Patrick Roy streaks from chasing down the franchise record, but there’s no shame in coming close but not quite surpassing Roy’s brilliance.

It wasn’t dominant, but it didn’t have to be. Colorado’s offense did plenty, but Blackwood continued his strong run of form as this “anything you can do, I can do better” back and forth with Scott Wedgewood continues.

Avs postgame pod