Denver, CO (SportsNetwork.com) – Max Pacioretty scored the winning goal late
in the third period to lead the Montreal Canadiens to a 4-3 win over the
Colorado Avalanche on Monday.
Andrei Markov and P.K. Subban each had a goal and an assist and Jiri Sekac
also scored for the Canadiens, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Carey
Price turned away 26 shots in the win.
Tyson Barrie, Daniel Briere and Ryan O’Reilly all scored for the Avalanche,
who have lost two of their last three. Calvin Pickard allowed all four goals
on 30 shots.
Pacioretty gave his team a 4-3 lead with 6:06 to play as he came down on a 2-
on-1 break and blasted it past Pickard for his 12th goal of the season.
Price turned aside nine shots in the final frame to help Montreal hang on for
the victory.
Montreal scored off a rush play 8:09 in when Sekac snapped it in from the left
wing for his fourth of the season, but Briere tied the game with 34 seconds
left in the first when he dug the puck out of the left boards and snapped it
in from the slot for his sixth of the season.
Colorado took a 2-1 lead 35 seconds into the second when Alex Tanguay sent a
pass from behind the net to the right side where O’Reilly snapped it in past
Price, who was caught looking the other way.
It took six minutes for the Habs to again knot the game with a power-play
marker when Alex Galchenyuk sent a pass from the low right side to the left
where Markov wristed it in.
Matt Duchene rang a shot off the left post and right halfway through the
frame, but his Avs took a 3-2 lead on a 4-on-1 break as Barrie’s shot from the
right side went in at 12:01 of the second.
The game, though, was all knotted up at 3-3 going into the third as Subban’s
big blast from the left point beat Pickard at 15:16.
Game Notes
Colorado plays at Calgary on Thursday … Montreal has won the past three
against Colorado … Montreal continues its four-game road trip in Minnesota
on Wednesday … Montreal went 1-for-2 on the power play, while Colorado was
0-for-1.
