The old guys on the Colorado Avalanche handed out a few lessons Saturday afternoon to the young Montreal Canadiens.
Brock Nelson, Gabe Landeskog and Brent Burns combined for five goals, while Nelson had a four-point day as the Avs routed the Canadiens, 7-2, at Ball Arena.
The Avs, wearing their Quebec Nordiques throwback uniforms, rebounded from a shootout loss Friday afternoon and now have a point in 16 straight games (13-0-3).
“The most important thing for me is the focus of the team,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “Guys are playing hard. They’re playing well. We’ve been competitive and committed pretty much every time the puck drops. It’s been a long, good run for us here.”
Mackenzie Blackwood’s career-best shutout streak ended after 173 minutes, 31 seconds, but he made 21 saves and is now 5-0-1 in his six starts this season.
This was Nelson’s first four-point game since Nov. 4, 2021, when he had a four-goal night against Montreal. Bednar recently noted that Nelson was among the team’s leaders in creating scoring chances, but his production had lagged behind.
He’s now on pace for 26 goals and 52 points, which is much closer to his typical output in recent years.
“Just sticking with it, trying to evolve and find different ways,” Nelson said. “There’s been some games where maybe I haven’t been as good at finding soft spots and moments to attack. … We found a couple different ways today and got rewarded for it.”
Nelson opened the scoring at 7:32 of the first. He was wide open in the slot, in part because Montreal defenseman Lane Hutson’s skate clipped Arber Xhekaj and sent him to the ice. It was Nelson’s seventh goal of the season.
Gabe Landeskog made it a two-goal lead at 13:25. Canadiens forward Josh Anderson fell while trying to get back and protect his net, which wiped out Landeskog and helped the puck end up in the net. The Habs challenged for goaltender interference, but the score was upheld.
The goal was originally awarded to Nelson, but later changed to the captain for his fourth of the year. Landeskog has recently returned to the second line because of Valeri Nichushkin’s injury. He had a huge goal Friday afternoon to help get the Avs to overtime, and now has six points in his past five games.
“He’s really coming along,” Bednar said. “It looks like he’s starting to get his legs underneath him a little bit more.
“This is end of a three (games) in four (days) and he looked like he great legs again. He was awesome (Friday), especially in the third period. It’s starting to come together for him.”
Nelson won a faceoff in the offensive zone back to Burns, and his shot through a Landeskog screen pushed Colorado’s lead to 3-0 just 50 seconds into the second period.
That is Burns’ third goal of the year, and the 264th of his career. He has tied Nicklas Lidstrom for ninth place in NHL history among defensemen, and he’s six away from matching Bobby Orr in eighth.
Nelson scored again at 3:55 of the second, prompting some fans who didn’t hear the in-arena announcement to toss their hats on the ice.
After a Montreal power-play goal ended Blackwood’s streak, Nathan MacKinnon collected the first of his three points on the day with a goal in the final minute of the middle period. Cale Makar made a fantastic pass to Landeskog to start the play, and then MacKinnon scored on the captain’s rebound.
It was MacKinnon’s league-leading 20th goal of the season. He’s also the first player in Avalanche history to score 20 goals in the first 25 games of the season since the franchise moved to Denver.
MacKinnon’s three points also pushed his league-leading total to 44, which is eight more than anyone else had at the start of the day. Bednar said he was under the weather today, but it still ended up being his seventh game with three or more points this season.
Devon Toews collected his first goal of the season when he tried to get the puck to Martin Necas on a 2-on-1 early in the third period, but Montreal’s Mike Matheson deflected the pass into his own net. Even Colorado’s power play, which has struggled to convert for much of this season, got into the act.
Landeskog deflected a MacKinnon shot for his second goal and third point of the game, which prompted a “Landy” chant as the Ball Arena patrons enjoyed another impressive victory for the best club in the NHL at the start of this season.
“He’s nasty,” Blackwood said. “He’s a hell of a leader, a hell of a player. Everybody in here loves that guy, so we’re happy for him.”
Want more Avalanche news? Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis.
Want more insights? Join Working Title - our career elevating newsletter and get the future of work delivered weekly.
