PuckTalk Post-Game | Completely Outclassed By The Colorado ‘Nordiques”!

PuckTalk Post-Game | Completely Outclassed By The Colorado ‘Nordiques”!

What did you expect? The Montreal Canadiens go into Colorado and get their asses handed to them by the Nordiks by a score of 7 to2. Let’s just talk some puck. [Music] Hey gang, Costa here from Puck Talk Montreal on this November 29th, 2025 as the Montreal Canadians leave Colorado licking their wounds after getting hammered by a score of 7-2. Before I get into the highlights, let me just preface something. When I graduated from high school back in 1989, yes, that far back in my bio for my grad picture, my pet please was the Montreal Canadians. Obviously, my pet peeve, the Quebec Nordics. Little did I know that four years after graduating, the Quebec Nordics would be gone and I’d be happier than a pig in [ __ ] But then Colorado decided, you know what? Let me piss off Montreal Canadians fans by wearing Quebec Nordik’s colors against their beloved Montreal Canadians. Oh my god. Let’s just say flashbacks to the 1980s when the Stasnes were dominating in the playoffs and Steve Penny couldn’t catch a puck if his life depended on him. But I digress. This isn’t the Quebec Nordiks. It’s the Colorado Nordiks or the Denver Nordiks or whatever the hell Nordics you want to call them. the end of the day, it is what it is. So, let’s take a look at the highlights, and they’re brought to you, of course, as always, by InstaCustoms. Instacustoms.com is Canada’s highest rated print shop with over 3,000 Google reviews and a 4.9 star rating. They offer direct to garment printing on all your favorite clothing along with coffee and travel mugs, and they even offer embroidery. Havs want a Stanley Cup? You can win two on Stanley Street andcustoms.com. Now, it started early enough at about 7:32 of the first period. Brock Nelson scoring a goal on a three on three, which seemed a little unlikely, but watch how poorly Alexander Cier plays this this goal. As the puck goes over to the wing, Kier not only takes the wrong guy, but he also wipes out Arbor Jackai in the process. Here it is again. He comes across, wipes out his own defenseman, and Colorado scores. And if you’re going to sit there and say, “Well, that’s not really his fault.” Watch this. Okay, just take a look. Here’s an actual still image of that goal. Carrie’s in the middle. If you look at the Canadians defensive coverage, okay, you’ve got Gallagher coming on the back check on the near side. You’ve got Demid who’s pressuring the puck carrier. You’ve got I think it’s number 94 in the middle. That’s the guy who’s the decoy. Okay. And that guy is bearing down on Arbor Jakkey. Why is Kier going right to left again and leaving his side completely open? All Brock Nelson had to do was post post up at the top of the slot and he had a wide open net to shoot at. That’s exactly what happened here. And it’s not the first time Carrie has done this, but I’ll talk about that a little bit later. Getting on to the second goal, here’s one that’s controversial beyond controversial. Okay, Gabriel Landiskog gets credit for this goal, but take a look at how it goes in. Landiskog contacts with Art Anderson and takes the puck in the net after having kicked Dobish’s leg out. Doish spins after the contact. Now, it was deemed by the referees that Anderson contacted Landiskog, but when you take a look at it, that’s not what happened. So again, we’ll come back to it later because regardless of whether they bumped into each other or not, there’s a different explanation that needs to be had there. But to say that that goal didn’t get the Canadians off their game was an understatement because until that point, the Canadians were playing extremely well. But once that goal was called, it kind of deflated the Canadians at that point. Moving on to the second period now where just 50 seconds in, Brett Burns fires a shot off a faceoff that Dobish never saw. Here it is. Puck gets to him. There’s a screen in front and they score. Too quick to see it. Well, here it is again. Right to him. Traffic in front. Never sees the puck. Here it is one more time. Everybody clusters to the slot and Doh can’t see it. That makes it three nothing. If that’s not bad enough, Brock Nelson scores on a wideopen net, watch this. You want to talk about shoddy defensive coverage? Watch this. Neash just drops a puck back and it’s wide open. Here it is again. Neash comes, draws everybody in, drops it. Nelson’s just standing by himself. Everybody decided not to cover him. That made it four nothing. Well, a little glimmer of hope after that. A little bit on a play that Uskoski makes and a beautiful pass cross crease over to Ivan Demidov to make it 4-1. I What can you say about Slap? Watch this. Pulls up Spinama. Goes tight. Sends it across. Bang. One-time by Demidov. Here it is again. Watch this again. Spinama gets away from his check. Pass across. Demidov wide open. It’s 4-1 again. little glimmer of hope. And the nice thing was is that after that there wasn’t much of a celebration. The guys p fist pumped it, went back to the bench because they knew there was still work to do. Well, the work got never got done because later in the period, just before just inside the last minute, Nathan McKinnon got on the board with his 20th goal of the season on what you would call a off the pad pass that I always talk about. Landiskaw gets the puck, fires it far side on Doesh. It goes right to McKinnon and Oh, there we go. It’s 5-1 to end the second period. And now everybody’s going to say, “Yeah, Carrie is on the ice again.” But I’m not going to blame Carrie on that goal because on that play, McKinnon came straight off the bench. There was no way for him to know he was there. So, a little bit of a pass, a very long rebound given out by Dovich right to the stick of the best goal scorer in the National Hockey League right now. That’s going to end up in the back of the net. 10 times out of 10, it’s 5-1. Cue the third period where Devin Tay scores off the stick of Mike Mat. Now Mat’s doing his job tying up his man right neck hash. Kay is across but unfortunately Mat’s stick is there. Goes in off his stick and in. So whether you like it or not, it is now six to one. Game’s out of reach. It is what it is, right? Well, another little glimmer of hope from the Montreal Canadians as Lane Hudson scores on the power play on a one-timer to make it six-2 at this point. Here’s the pass. Clapper scores. Not something we see every day from him, is it? But perfect setup. Not at the point, but at the top of the circles, and he claps at home to make it 6-2. Then finally, Gabriel Landiskog, who had a game. Him and Brock Nelson were outstanding for the Nordiks tonight or this afternoon I should say. He gets a power play goal at 652 of the third period ending the misery as he tips in a shot from McKinnon. Watch this tip. Beautiful outside tip under the glove of Doves to make it 7-2. And that’s all she wrote. The Canadians couldn’t have gotten out of Denver faster. So, let’s analyze this debacle. And for analysis, we talk cheapest t-shirts.ca. Cheapest t-shirts.ca has men’s, women’s, and children’s t-shirts, all sizes, hoodies, too. With over a thousand products to choose from, anything you need for merchandise or the best deals on everyday clothing, cheapest t-shirts.ca is your go-to source. Buy today, ship tomorrow. Cheapest t-shirts.ca. So, now here’s the thing, right? When we discussed the keys to victories yesterday, what is it? Well, number one, shut down the McKinnon line. That didn’t happen. Number two, win the neutral zone battle. Well, that didn’t happen because the Avalanche were passing the puck from their own zone up through the neutral zone at Nauseium. Free-for-all. And this is after that second goal. Right when the game first started, the Canadians actually came out with more energy, more pace than the Avalanche. And the Avalanche were holding them at bay. If not for McKenzie Blackwood, his goalending was outstanding. in that first period. That’s what kept the Canadians off the board because they should have had at least a couple of goals, but he robbed the Canadians more than once in that first period. So, kudos on Scott on uh Mackenzie Blackwood for his performance in that first period, which really set the tempo for this hockey game. But, as I mentioned, the neutral zone battle completely won by the Avalanche. They were attacking with speed all night long and the Canadians didn’t have an answer for it. Then I said attack the Colorado Colorado’s defensive depths. That didn’t happen because why? They were moving the puck out of the zone so quickly effectively. Tay up to Landiskog or McKinnon or Nelson, you name it. It was getting up quickly and the Canadians were allowing too much of a gap between the neutral zone and those passes were getting through without any issue. a big problem against a team like the Avalanche who attacked transition way faster than any other team in the National Hockey League. Special teams discipline. Well, the Canadians were one for two on the power play. Avalanche 144. Call it what it is. The Canadians did manage to win a special teams battle because they did play very well on the penalty kill. And then there’s goalending. And a lot of the goalending, while I would say the first Brock Nelson goal was a stoppable shot, a lot of the rest of it was pretty much, you know, screenshots, rebounds, etc. Especially that massive rebound off of the Landisk shot that went over to McKinnon. But that’s by design, guys. It’s something that a lot of people say, “Oh, well, no, it’s not.” And you know, you don’t know what you’re talking about, Costa. I do. It’s something I teach players all the time and I talk about it on this show. You want to generate rebounds when you’re on a twoon-one, right? Or when you have a guy coming off the backside. If you can’t get a pass through and there’s no clear passing lane, your only other avenue is to take a shot on the goalie’s far side, forcing him to make a save and kick out a rebound. That’s what Don Scott did. He fired a shot low right off the pad of Dobish onto the stick of McKinnon and into the back of the net. It was perfection just the way coaches draw it up. It doesn’t always happen that way. Sometimes the puck bounces in a different direction. Sometimes it bounces out into the slot. It’s not a perfect science. But this particular play by Landiskog was a piesta resistance. And that’s pretty much where we were. Five keys to victory, one actually attained. So where does that leave the Canadians when you talk about analyzing this hockey game? Well, let’s start with my friend and yours, Alexander Kerier. I have not been a fan of his defense lately. One of the things that I find more often than not is he has his back turned to the play and he’s chasing the puck. And that’s kind of what Arbor Jackey got hammered for last season, which he hasn’t done this year. You take a look at Jackey, he’s rarely on the wrong side of the puck and he’s not chasing players around the zone. Kier, we see him more often than not, he comes across to the opposite side that he’s playing on to try to make plays. That has to stop. All right. The Canadians need him to stabilize himself on defense. Stefan Roby does got to do some work with him. He’s got to make sure he pulls him aside, shows him the videos, and tells them, “Alex, you’re being way too aggressive on the offensive side of the puck. You need to learn to back off a little bit more quickly to allow yourself to face oncoming attackers instead of having your back turn and not being able to see what’s behind you.” The Brock Nelson goal, as I mentioned, clear as day. Here it is. Here’s the picture again. He has no idea that Nelson, number 11 in this picture, is right behind him, bearing down on the slot. So, what does he do? He focuses on the puck. He follows number 94. And number 94, I keep saying that I sound like uh the bugeyed Walrus after uh Raphael Diaz got absolutely wallpapered uh against the Ottawa Senators. Uh 94. 94. Who’s 94? Hang on. I can get that really quick. Event summary. 94 for the Avalanche is uh Yol Kirant. There you go. So, Kirrant comes up the middle and Jackey to his credit is in perfect position. He’s playing a twoon-one basically until the back pressure comes from Demidov. So, Demidov is coming across to take away the pass. Kirrant is driving the mid ice lane. Jack eyes right there. He’s giving the shot to the goalie and he’s taking away the pass through the middle on that twoon-one. But on the back side of it, on the opposite side, you’ve got Gallagher trying to catch up to the play and you’ve got Kerier who’s just puck watching. Comes across, takes Cavir, knocks out Jakai. So Jai can’t cover anybody at this point and the puck ends up in the back of the net. I know you’re going to say I’m difficult on him and I’m hard on him because that’s what a lot of people say, but it’s the God honest truth. If you watch some of the goals that have gone in versus the Montreal Canadians with Carrie on the ice, his reads are completely wrong. He’s vacating the front of the net to go help on along the boards, leaving the front of the net open, forcing his forwards to try to defend, which isn’t their job at that point that deep into the zone. There’s a lot of things that you look at Kier right now and his game is just not there. It needs to be cleaned up. Maybe the Canadians have given him too much uh responsibility playing alongside whether it’s Jack Eye or Strub or you name it, Angstrom being another one. Angstrom hasn’t been playing poorly. So the fact that he’s overcommitting to play like that, somebody’s got to back him off and say, “Listen, Alex, you need to cool it down in the defensive zone. You need to make sure that your reads are good. You need to make sure you’re in the right position because right now he’s not and it’s costing the Canadians goals. It’s as simple as that. Another thing, it’s another one of those games where the Canadians don’t get as many shots as they should. 23 shots total against McKenzie Blackwood while the Avalanche shot 36 times versus Dobish. And that’s that’s a number I’m just not comfortable with. And early in this hockey game, one of the other things that I didn’t like that also happened the other night, despite the fact the Canadians did win versus Vegas is that they were outclassed at the faceoff dot for the majority of the hockey game, they still ended up on the wrong side of that number. Uh where was it here? Uh they were 44.8%. In the faceoff dot for the majority of this game though, they were around the 60% mark. That’s not anywhere near good enough. So Mark Bureau, come in. Let’s get some work done because the guys are getting away from the good habits that they created. Now, it could very well be because you’re missing guys like Alex New Hook and Kirby Doc who was doing well at the faceoff dot that that’s hurting you, but you still need to address it. It’s not something you can allow because the Canadians, if they’re going to be a team that doesn’t shoot as often as you’d like, they need to be a team that has possession of the puck at the very least if they’re going to be that fine with how they’re going to shoot. And I don’t have a problem with it. so long as they’re putting pucks in the net. But the minute their shooting percentage drops back down to earth, shooting 20 22 times in a game is going to become problematic. I hope that doesn’t happen. And I hope they can maintain a 25, you know, on the road there were about 30%. when it comes to u their shooting percentage that may very well come down a little bit and so we really need to see the Canadians shoot a little bit more because as I’ve mentioned time and time again it’s not necessarily just about the quality of the shot it’s about about fatiguing the other goalender when you take 30 32 33 shots on goal in a hockey game right and you have possession of the puck you tend to move it back and forth and you tend to force the other goalender to move inside the crease. When you do that, you fatigue him. And what happens when a goalender gets fatigued? He makes mistakes. And when he makes mistakes, the puck ends up in the back of the net. It’s just like defenseman. It’s just like forwards, especially with dement. If you take demen and you put him into the boards often enough and you force them to move pucks quickly and you force them to skate up ice, often times they become fatigued and make mistakes in their own zone, which leads to good scoring chances. It’s all part of the same recipe. Finish your body checks on your defenseman. Force them to move the puck quickly. Be strong on the forch check. Make sure you get shots on goal to fatigue the goalender at the same time. It’s all part and parcel to success in any league, not just the National Hockey League, but at any level. You know, I was part of a game tonight where for two periods, our team did not press the opposition at all. It was 1-1 after 40 minutes. And my team, the Hawkbury Knights, is the best team in the US PHL Premiere right now, three points up on the next team down. So, you would think that a team that has that kind of acumen and that kind of pedigree would push a little bit harder and be able to maintain that pressure. Nope. But in the third period when they started playing a little bit more aggressive, finishing their body checks, getting in hard on the forch check, forcing the D to make plays, they scored three goals and they won the hockey game 4-1. So examples are there. You can look anywhere at any team in the National Hockey League or any other division you want to look at. NHL, AHL, Junior, you name it. When a team is not aggressive, when a team sits back and is passive and allows the other team to ram the puck down their throat like we saw tonight, what happens? You end up on the wrong side of the ledger. And let me tell you something about those Quebec Nordics jerseys that the Avalanche were wearing. I grew up hating the Nordics. Now the Nordics, of course, came into the National Hockey League in the 1979 1980 season along with the Oilers, the Winnipeg Jets, and the um Oh, wow. Did I just pull a blank? I just had them in my head and I lost it. Jets, Oilers, Nordiks, Hartford Whalers. the other one. Miss that team, by the way. I love the color of that jersey. But anyway, and the one thing about the Quebec Nordiks that really used to piss me off is they used to get under your skin. Why? Because Michelle Berseron was their coach and Michelle Berser was a lightning rod for controversy and just seeing him behind the bench and how animated he was. Used to get people going and Montreal hated Quebec for that because Quebec didn’t have a lot of superstars. They had the Stassy brothers, right? Their goalending wasn’t great. When they first broke into the league, they had Danielle Buchard, then Mario Goss, then Stefan Fis, then they ended up with Ron Hex in 1993 when the Canadians beat them in six games. I mean, there’s a lot of history between the Canadians and the Nordics despite the fact that the Nordics were only in the National Hockey League for 13 14 seasons, right? You’ve got the St. the the Good Friday Massacre where Jean Mill’s career ended on a punch from Luis Slagger. There’s so much that has gone on between those two teams, you know, playoff matchups, Stasny scoring in overtime on Steve Penny, as I mentioned, Steve Penny unable to catch a cold, never mind a puck, but anyway, and ending that series. I mean, there’s so much so much hatred for the Nordics. But that being said, we also miss the Nordics, especially in Quebec City, because that rivalry, it does it it rivaled that of the Boston Bruins in Montreal Canadians in hatred is what I mean. Not necessarily in the quality of the play because you couldn’t compare the Boston Bruins of the 70s to the Quebec Nordics. That’s just it just doesn’t wasn’t right. Right. But just overall, the hatred between the two teams was awesome. And the cities are three, four hours apart. So Nordics fans would travel well and you had a lot of that animosity going back and forth, fights in the crowd, you name it. It just it was just non-stop. And that’s the part I miss. What I don’t miss is those [ __ ] beating us. Let’s keep that simple. So when I see the Avalanche wear those jerseys, I cringe. Not because they’re ugly, not because that I have a disdain for the province of Quebec, just because I hated that team growing up. It’s as simple as that. So, where does that leave the Montreal Canadians? Well, the Canadians now licking their wounds go into December. You know, they just broke they just broke their three-game winning streak with that loss against the Avalanche. And then they play on Tuesday against the Ottawa Senators and Wednesday against the Winnipeg Jets. Back-to-back once again. We’re going to visit what happened this past week in tomorrow’s show. And on Monday, we’ll look forward to Brady Kachchuck being back in the lineup and how different that’s going to make the Ottawa Senators. Be sure guys to subscribe to the channel, give it a thumbs up, give it a like. Tell your friends about it because word of mouth is the best way to try to spread something, right? Thanks again to our sponsors instacustoms.com and cheapests.ca and we’ll see you tomorrow for the weekend review.

Welcome back to PuckTalk MTL, the go-to spot for Montreal Canadiens fans, NHL fans, and passionate hockey followers looking for honest breakdowns and high-energy analysis.

In tonight’s episode, Kosta disects the Canadiens’ rough night in Denver, where the Habs were completely outclassed by the Colorado Avalanche—affectionately referred to here as the “Nordiques” for a little extra rivalry spice.

We break down what went wrong for Montreal, from defensive breakdowns to failed coverages to struggling matchups against Colorado’s elite speed and firepower. This post-game analysis looks at defensive coverage lapses, special teams issues, lineup choices, and which Habs players fought through the adversity despite the difficult result.

If you’re a Colorado Avalanche fan, this video also highlights why the Avs remain one of the most dangerous teams in the NHL—and how they overwhelmed Montreal in every key area.

Whether you’re a Montreal Canadiens fan, NHL fan, Colorado Avalanche fan, or just a hockey addict who loves honest analysis, this episode brings all the insight you’re looking for.

🔥 LIKE, COMMENT & SUBSCRIBE for more Habs content, NHL post-game reactions, and PuckTalk MTL analysis!

0:00 – Show Start
2:00 – Game Highlights – The Avalanche Were Just That Good!
8:21 – Game Analysis – Hab started well, but couldn’t maintain it
19:06 – My Hatred For the Quebec Nordiques

#GoHabsGo #MontrealCanadiens #ColoradoAvalanche #Nordiques #NHL #Habs #HockeyFans #PuckTalkMTL #CH #HockeyVLog

In every episode, Kosta Papoulias takes a deep dive into the latest Montreal Canadiens news involving Ivan Demidov, Patrik Laine, Juraj Slafkovsky, Josh Anderson, Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, Kirby Dach, Joe Veleno, Jake Evans, Zach Bolduc, Brendan Gallagher, Alex Newhook, Oliver Kapanen, Habs Defencemen, Arber Xhekaj, Kaiden Guhle, Sam Montembeault, Lane Hutson, Jayden Struble, Alex Carrier, Mike Matheson, Noah Dobson, Jakub Dobes, Jacob Fowler, Kent Hughes, Martin St Louis.

Dans chaque épisode, Kosta Papoulias analyse en profondeur les dernières nouvelles des Canadiens de Montréal concernant Ivan Demidov, Patrik Laine, Juraj Slafkovsky, Josh Anderson, Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, Kirby Dach, Joe Veleno, Jake Evans, Zach Bolduc, Brendan Gallagher, Alex Newhook, Oliver Kapanen, Habs Defencemen, Arber Xhekaj, Kaiden Guhle, Sam Montembeault, Lane Hutson, Jayden Struble, Alex Carrier, Mike Matheson, Noah Dobson, Jakub Dobes, Jacob Fowler, Kent Hughes et Martin St Louis.

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