Montreal Madness: Avalanche Defeat Canadiens 5-4 in Shootout

A Saturday Spectacle

Brock Nelson scored the shootout-winning goal as the Avalanche defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-4 at Bell Centre on Saturday. In addition to his shootout tally, Nelson added his third goal in his last two games while Sam Malinski, Martin Necas and Ryan Lindgren each lit the lamp for the Avs. Between the pipes for Colorado, Mackenzie Blackwood recorded the 100th win of his career.

"I thought it was a great hockey game," Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar said. "I thought we were really good for long stretches of that game."

With the win, the Avs improved to 43-25-3.

How It Happened

Malinski opened the scoring at 7:35 of the first period with his third goal of the season via a one-timer from the top of the right circle set up by Joel Kiviranta.

Lindgren doubled Colorado's lead at 10:09 of the first period with his fourth goal of the season via a left-circle wrist shot set up by Brock Nelson's backhand feed.

The Avs took a 3-0 lead on the power play at 5:22 of the second period when Necas scored his 24th goal of the season with a shot from the left doorstep set up by Jonathan Drouin's feed.

Juraj Slafkovsky put Montreal on the board at 5:51 of the second period via a deflection on Jayden Struble's shot from the point.

Nelson put the Avalanche up 4-1 at 3:58 of the third perid with his 23rd goal of the season via a redirect on Devon Toews' left-point shot.

Joshua Roy scored for Montreal at 9:24 of the third period with a shot from the slot.

Slafkovsky scored his second goal of the game at 9:54 of the third period to put the Canadiens within one.

Christian Dvorak tied the game with a backhand shot at 13:32 of the third period.

In the fourth round of the shootout, Nelson scored to give the Avalanche the victory.

"I was getting ready to go with [Jonathan] Drouin," Bednar said. "And Drouin told me to go with Nelson, that his move would beat [Montreal goalie Sam Montembeault]."

Next Up

The Avalanche host the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday at 7 p.m. MT on My20, Altitude and Altitude+.