So It Shouldn't Be a Total Loss

Colorado Avalanche fans (myself especially) were still celebrating that huge comeback win over the Buffalo Sabres, which was our sixth straight win. Next up for the Avs: a Saturday battle with the Montréal Canadiens, our former longtime perennial foes from our days as the Quebec Nordiques. The first thought as I watched this: the last time we had a big winning streak entering a game against Montréal, it came to an end against Les Habitants.

MacKenzie Blackwood was in net for the Avs against Jakub Dobas, who was barely getting started in this league. A steady pace at first, but the Avs would receive the first power play of the game. That was killed without a shot, but after our old boy Alex Newhook committed a penalty, we went back on the PP. This time we had a shot and a goal, and it was Mikko Rantanen from Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar. 1-0 Avs, and that was the score after the first 20 minutes.

Second period was quiet for the most part, with the exception of one minor penalty from the Habs. Colorado's PP was killed off, and the 1-0 score remained after 40. In the third, the Habs received their first PP, but it became 4-on-4 less than a minute in. Penalties ended, and it looked like we would actually win this thing 1-0, until Cole Caufield butted in. Caufield tied it up at 13:25, and it was back and forth for the rest of the way until the Avs received a power play with just under two minutes left.

The game made it into overtime despite the Avs' efforts to end it in regulation, and the rest of the PP was knocked off. This was an interesting OT that saw matching minors called, but then, we saw Artturi Lehkonen clearly hooked and held as he inadvertently crashed into the goalie. But was Guhle called for his second penalty of the game? Nope. For some reason, they put Lehkonen in the box for Goalie Interference! Are they kidding?! So our goalie gets interfered with to the point of injury against Buffalo, but that's not GI. Yet our player is held and pushed into the opposing goalie, not intentional, but that's GI. Seriously, the refs just flat out hate the Avs.

The penalty was killed off, and Lehkonen almost broke away after leaving the box, but that was stopped. Game went to a shootout, and the only goals in that competition were scored by Caufield and Kirby Dach.

Bad news, the winning streak is over. Good news, it's now a points streak. This was our first extra time defeat this season, so we got the added point to our total. We have now gone seven games without a regulation loss; point streaks are always amazing. The Avs' hot streak came at the right time, and now we are in a prime position with a month to go until the Four Nations break. It's amazing well we've been playing as of late! Here's hoping it really leads to something good!

The Avs' homestand concludes against the defending champion Florida Panthers. After that, the Avs head on the road for three games, all against division rivals. We will be in Chicago on Wednesday, Minnesota on Thursday, and Winnipeg on Saturday, and after that, it's a five-game homestand! Oh boy, oh boy!

* * *

Thank you for reading my recap! Click the heart if you liked it, click the subscribe button for more of my stories, and feel free to comment below! Tips and pledges would also be appreciated, but only if you want to do so!