Gabriel Landeskog scored at 1:16 into overtime, Valeri Nichushkin had a goal and an assist, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 in Denver on Saturday night.
Alex Newhook also scored, Devon Toews had three assists, Sam Girard had two assists and Darcy Kuemper stopped 28 shots for the Avalanche. Colorado has won 15 straight home games.
Nick Suzuki had a goal and an assist, Artturi Lehkonen had a goal and Cayden Primeau had 43 saves for the Canadiens. Montreal is 1-4-4 in its current 10-game road trip that wraps up Monday in Minnesota.
Primeau got the start when Sam Montembeault was ruled out with an upper-body injury. He is considered day-to-day. Michael McNiven was brought up from the taxi squad to serve as Primeau’s backup.
The Canadiens placed Jonathan Drouin on injured reserve. Drouin sustained an upper-body injury in the loss at Vegas on Thursday night and returned to Montreal for further treatment.
The Avalanche won it when they got control of the puck in the offensive zone. Nichushkin had it on the right side of the net and passed it to Landeskog, whose one-timer beat Primeau. It was his 15th of the season.
Colorado jumped ahead midway through the first period with a power-play goal. Girard got a pass from the point from Toews and tipped it to Newhook at the top of the left circle. Newhook’s one-timer at 8:20 made it 1-0. It was his ninth of the season.
The Avalanche took a 2-0 lead on a power play in the second period when Nichushkin scored on a feed from Girard at 8:57. It was his 11th of the season.
Montreal broke through late in the second period when Lehkonen scored on an odd-man rush, his fifth goal of the season to cut the deficit to one. Colorado nearly restored the two-goal lead at 4:10 of the third but Nazem Kadri’s goal was overturned on a challenge for offsides.
Suzuki then tied it on the power play at 8:06 of the third, his eighth of the season.
–Field Level Media