(Montreal) The Montreal Canadiens delivered another disappointing performance Thursday night en route to a 4-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche.
Valeri Nichushkin, Cale Makar, Andre Burakovsky and Gabriel Landeskog found the back of the net for the Avalanche (12-7-1), who rebounded after suffering a scathing 8-3 loss the day before against the Toronto Maple Leafs. .
Ben Chiarot was the only one to strike back for the Canadian (6-17-2), who was trying to find his way back to victory after suffering a lackluster 2-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Monday night.
A spectator, probably exasperated by the poor performance of the Montreal club this season, even threw his CH jersey on the ice in the middle of the third period.
Jake Allen made his fourth straight start in front of the Bleu-blanc-rouge net, and he did well under the circumstances with 30 saves.
Deprived of goalkeeper Darcy Kuemper – who was injured during the warm-up in Toronto – the Colorado team again relied on Swedish goaltender Jonas Johansson. The latter, who had been foiled eight times on 41 shots against the Maple Leafs the day before, repelled a total of 19 shots aimed at him and savored his third victory this season on the Bettman Circuit.
The game started very slowly for the Habs, as it did three days earlier against the Vancouver Canucks.
The Canadian didn’t land a shot in the direction of the Avalanche’s net in two power-play firsts in the first half, and it hadn’t been for Alexander Romanov’s spectacular failed hitting – which resulted in a laceration in the face of the Russian – nothing worth mentioning.
The two teams then traded one special teams goal each in the second period. The Avalanche first opened the shorthanded scorecard at 3:11, courtesy of Nichushkin, then Chiarot blacked out the shorthanded scoresheet just three minutes later.
Makar made sure, however, that the Avalanche returned to the locker room with a 2-1 lead in his pocket after firing a point shot that slipped behind Allen, with 4:11 remaining on the throw-off.
The Avalanche then struck early on the third engagement, through Burakovsky. It did not take more to ensure the victory of the visitors. And Landeskog completed the scoring by shooting into an empty net with 2:49 left on the clock.
It should be noted that Josh Anderson left the game in the second period, after giving hard against the ramp behind the Avalanche net following a check from behind by defenseman Kurtis MacDermid. He did not return to the game afterwards, the Canadian specifying that he was injured in the upper body.
Forward Mathieu Perreault, who missed 15 games after having twice undergone surgery on one eye, as well as defensemen Brett Kulak and Chris Wideman were back in the Canadiens’ starting lineup. Unsurprisingly, Brendan Gallagher and Sami Niku went missing after receiving a positive coronavirus diagnosis on Wednesday evening.
The Canadian will play his next game on Saturday night against the Predators in Nashville.