MONTREAL – The colors on the ice were beautiful. The on-ice play from the Avalanche was far from it. Colorado gave up four unanswered goals after both teams traded early markers on their way to a 7-3 loss at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens in the Bell Centre. Playing in the province of Queb ec, the Avalanche wore their Nordiques throwbacks while the Canadiens wore their road reds, giving many flashbacks to the many battles these franchises had decades ago. Unfortunately for the Avalanche, their goaltender put up a save percentage reminiscent of what ’80s hockey fans were used to. Scott Wedgewood was not the only reason for this loss, but he put all the blame on himself in the locker room. “(The team) should keep their head up. We played well enough to win. That one’s on me,” he said after the loss. “Obviously, throughout the year, we bail each other out in different times…they played a good game today and just unfortunate that hockey teaches you lessons. Unfortunately, that’s one you got to learn from.” Montreal scored on their first shot of the game, which came off some blown coverage in the defensive zone, and 60% of their first five shots ended up behind Wedgewood. The fourth goal ended up being a killer, as the Avalanche were pushing hard in the second period before a harmless dump-in ended up in their own net. The Canadiens dumped the puck in, and Wedgewood came out to play it for his teammates, as he does many times throughout a 60 minute game. This one however, did not go as planned, and Jake Evans took the puck before Wedgewood could get it, depositing it into an empty net. “Just a slow dump-in. I saw Nate on the strong side wall. I had first touch and it just decided to ramp with the snow and boards and you just think it’s going to carom like proper and it just knuckled,” Wedgewood said. “99 out of 100 that’s just on my forehand and gone. That just took a weird bounce. One of those nights and the time of the game and situation, that deflates us.” The power play has been a hot button topic for everyone, as the Avalanche have struggled all season long to put the puck in the back of the opposing net with the man advantage. A disturbing trend is forming, however. Not only are the Avalanche not scoring consistently on the power play, but they’re now giving up too many shorthanded chances and ultimately, goals. Montreal’s third goal, which came just a few minutes after they scored on a power play of their own, came while the Avalanche had the man advantage. Oliver Kapanen flipped the puck out of the zone and Nick Suzuki ended up with a breakaway, beating Wedgewood on the backhand. It would mark the ninth shorthanded goal allowed by the Avalanche this season, the most in the NHL. Cale Makar, the last line of defense with the man advantage, didn’t mince words about why the Avalanche are giving up so many shorthanded goals. “It’s not good enough. It’s basically all on me, most of them,” Makar said. “I just got to be the last guy back. Especially the one tonight, I thought that was going down for icing, and in that scenario, you can’t really think about it. You just got to turn around and skate. That one’s definitely fully on me and it’s just happening more this year than past years.” The red-hot start by the Avalanche still gives them a pretty big cushion when it comes to the Central Division standings, but there’s no doubt they’ve struggled the last month. They’re not panicking at the moment, though. “I think right we just got to continue to build this into the break,” Makar said. “We got three games left here to gain some confidence and work our way back.” Canadiens 7, Avalanche 3 What happened: Colorado followed up a bad game with a slightly better game that finished with the same result. What went right: Ross Colton returned to the lineup after missing three games and broke out of his lengthy 25-game goal drought, scoring his first since Nov. 26. What went wrong: Jared Bednar switched up his lines, moving Artturi Lehkonen to the top line and dropping Victor Olofsson down. The top line struggled again, however. Colorado was outscored 3-0 over the past two games with Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas on the ice together at even strength, something that we aren’t used to seeing this season. Avalanche goal scorers: Nelson (28), Kiviranta (2), Colton (6) Canadiens goal scorers: Dobson (10), Suzuki (17, 18), Evans (7), Dach (6), Carrier (6), Slafkovsky (20) Between the pipes: Wedgewood finished with 21 saves on 28 shots. What’s next: The Avalanche close out the long road trip on Saturday in Detroit at 11 a.m. MT. ...read more read less