Canadiens crush Colorado in throwback Thursday throwdown

To boil the Thursday night game between the Canadiens and the Colorado Ava… *ahem* Nordiques, down to a phrase would be this, “the same but different”.

A familiar look, the Habs and Nordiques in Montreal, but this time at the Bell Centre.

The same players on the ice, but arranged in a new way, with Dobson and Hutson as a pair and Nick Suzuki on the penalty kill, both examples instantly making a scoring impact.

And the second meeting between Montreal and Colorado, the same teams as earlier this season but a flipped result, with the Habs felling the top team in the league 7-3.

“I thought all four lines were doing a great job,” Said Captain Nick Suzuki after the game on his teams play. "We were pretty steady defensively. We were just keeping things simple and they needed to try to produce more offense and we kind of took advantage of that."

The pace was blistering from the get-go, with the newly formed pair of Hutson-Dobson connecting for a goal off the rush just over a minute into the game. Brock Nelson tied things up for the Avs on a solo rip from distance just minutes later.

Then Nick Suzuki went to work.

On the first power play of the game, the Canadiens captain banged home a rebound from a Demidov shot for the go-ahead goal. On the ensuing first penalty kill on the back of a slick backhand clear by Oliver Kapanen, Suzuki gathered the puck for a breakaway chance, dekeing to the backhand and beating Scott Wedgewood clean for the 3-1 goal.

The second period brought forth a flurry of scoring chances from both squads, but especially the Avalanche. Jakub Dobes continued his strong form from the previous game against Vegas, reading the puck movement exceptionally well and controlling rebounds in a noticeably effective way.

The physical play ramped up as well, not the same as the Nordiques rivalries of old, but most definitely in a noticeable way. The most jarring moment being that of some high contact made by Josh Manson on Kaiden Guhle. Guhle stayed down on the ice for some time before heading to the locker room. His absence was only for a handful of shifts as he returned to lay a massive hit on former Canadien Artturi Lehkonen on his first shift back.

After a brief pause in scoring, Montreal stormed back for a pair to increase the score to 5-1. Jake Evans snagged the puck from an unaware Scott Wedgewood, who was behind his own net, flipping the biscuit into the open cage. Kirby Dach followed up with his first goal since returning from injury, sending the puck towards the front of the net from behind the goal line, with it caroming in off a defender and past Wedgewood.

The “Nordiques” slammed home a big rebound to cut the lead down to three to close out the second period at a 5-2 scoreline.

Colorado ripped out of the intermission with full pressure, getting many dangerous chances in the first minute, forcing Dobes to stay sharp and make many timely saves at near point-blank range. One too many of those opportunities occurred as Hutson lost footing and coverage of Ross Colton, who brought the game within two goals.

More of the same from the third-period Canadiens.

Off the rush, minutes later, Montreal defenders blocked a pair of shots, turning the puck over to Nick Suzuki up the ice. Suzuki crossed over, keeping the attention of the lone defender while Quebec City native Alexandre Carrier slid in to position on the nearside faceoff dot and cleanly beat Wedgewood to go up 6-3.

A quick-paced zone crash by the “kid” line extended the lead to 7-3, with Slafkovsky slamming home an errant puck generated by Kapanen. This goal would prove to be Slafkovsky's 20th goal of the season.

Two quick answer-back goals in the final frame? Different.

One of the most telling moments of the game came while the Canadiens held a 7-3 lead with just over six minutes remaining. It wasn’t a goal or a flashy save; it was Juraj Slafkovsky throwing himself in front of pucks, blocking multiple shots to help ease the offensive pressure.

"I don't think I'm the only guy who took a hit tonight," said Alexandre Carrier about the team's defensive play. "Defensively I thought guys sacrificed the body, Just after that play [Carrier's goal] Dach with a big block. I think it shows how much we care, how much we are on the same page and are willing to sacrifice. It doesn't matter if you are first line, fourth line, everybody has got to do it."

Final score 7-3 for Montreal.

Final shots on goal for 28-29 Colorado.

The scoring was spectacular and will most likely be the most exciting point of interest for most, but the important number is the smaller one that Colorado owned, three, thanks to Jakub Dobes.

When so much focus has been brought upon the goaltending as the season went on and in the wake of the firing of Eric Raymond, a solid performance from Dobes felt almost necessary, and he more than delivered.

“It's good, we've just got to keep going, you cannot get satisfied,” said Dobes on enjoying the win but staying ready for future games. "Everyone is on us, tomorrow we'll reset and Saturday we've got a divisional game against Buffalo so we've got to be ready, so right now there's no games off until the break."

This is still the youngest team in the NHL, and is the same team that couldn’t stave off the Bruins in the third period. This is also the same team that locked down the Vegas Golden Knights and embarrassed the league-leading Avalanche.

The same, but different.