Avalanche continue to stumble, get blown out by Canadiens, 7-3

Corey Masisak, The Denver Post on Jan 29, 2026

Published in Hockey

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MONTREAL — It went from bad to worse for the Colorado Avalanche.

Colorado struggled in all phases of the game Thursday night and got blown out, 7-3, by the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre. It was the second loss in as many days, and eighth in the past 12 contests for the Avs after starting this campaign with a historic 31-2-7 record. They’ve lost two straight four times this month, and four of the past five losses have been by three goals or more.

Jakub Dobes, who allowed seven goals on 29 shots during a 7-2 loss to the Avs in Denver earlier this season, made 26 saves for Montreal. Scott Wedgewood had his toughest outing of the campaign, allowing seven goals on 28 shots.

It didn’t take long for things to go sideways in this one. Noah Dobson scored on a one-timer from Lane Hutson just 56 seconds in, on Montreal’s first shot of the game.

Brock Nelson got that one back at 4:09 with a nifty goal. He used Hutson as a screen during a rush and snapped one past Dobes for his 28th goal of the year. It was also his 22nd goal in the past 28 contests.

That did not steady the ship for Colorado. Keaton Middleton went to the penalty box for cross-checking, and the Canadiens scored 27 seconds later. Ivan Demidov teed up a one-timer from the top of the right circle, which Wedgewood stopped. But Josh Manson was unable to tie up Montreal captain Nick Suzuki at the edge of the crease, and deposited the rebound at 5:51 for a power-play goal.

The Avs had a chance to even the score with a power play of their own, and that did not go well. Colorado struggled to do anything productive in the first minute of the opportunity, and then Oliver Kapanen pitchforked the puck up and out of the Montreal zone … and Suzuki collected it for a breakaway short-handed goal at 7:33 of the first and a 3-1 lead for the home side.

Things steadied for the Avalanche in the second period. The visitors created several great chances and looked more like the league’s best outfit at even strength, but Dobes stoned them for 16 minutes before further calamity.

Wedgewood went behind his net, but misjudged the puck and Jake Evans beat him to it. Then Wedgewood and Brent Burns collided, leaving Evans to walk out in front and score into an empty net at 16:36 of the second.

That made it 4-1. And it was 5-1 before the Centre Bell faithful were done celebrating.

Kirby Dach shot the puck from behind the Colorado net off Wedgewood and in at 17:16 to make it a four-goal Montreal advantage.

The Avs did mount a bit of a comeback from there. Joel Kiviranta scored on the rebound of a Sam Malinski shot 50 seconds later to make it a 5-2 game.

Then Ross Colton broke a long drought with a goal from the slot at 4:38 of the third. He outmuscled Hutson in front and took a pass from Valeri Nichushkin to collect his sixth goal of the season — and first in 26 games, since Nov. 26 against San Jose.

At that point, there was more than 15 minutes left and time for something dramatic. The good vibes last barely more than a minute.

A Burns shot was blocked in the right circle, which led to a 2-on-1 the other way. Alexandre Carrier buried a one-timer from Suzuki to make it 6-3 at 5:45 of the third. Juraj Slafkovsky added further insult when the puck just came to him near the right post for an easy tap-in after a scrambled situation at 9:55, but the outcome was long decided by then.

Footnotes

This was Colton’s first game back after missing the past three with a lower-body injury. Captain Gabe Landeskog and defenseman Devon Toews remain out with upper-body ailments.