Armia scores late, Canadiens edge Avalanche to end 3-game skid

MONTREAL -- Joel Armia scored with 4:10 remaining in the third period, and the Montreal Canadiens won 4-3 against the Colorado Avalanche at Bell Centre on Monday.

Armia scored five-hole with his backhand from the top of the crease.

“I think he’s having fun,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “He’s smiling and he’s playing some really good hockey right now, and what we want for ‘Army’ is just that consistency, but we’re getting that right now and I hope it keeps going.”

Cole Caufield had a goal and an assist, Nick Suzuki had two assists, and Jake Allen made 32 saves in his first start since Jan. 4 for Montreal (18-18-7), which had lost three straight (0-1-2).

“Our intensity was there,” St. Louis said. “We had to weather a storm at the start of the second period but that didn’t kill us, it didn’t knock us out of the game, and we made a good push after that when we killed those penalties. And we stuck to the task at hand.”

Cale Makar had a goal and two assists, and Alexandar Georgiev made 30 saves for Colorado (28-13-3), which had won three straight and was 9-1-1 in its previous 11 games.

“There’s not much not to like in the final 40 minutes from our team,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “You know, the second period was outstanding, had trouble putting the puck in the net a little bit, probably would want a couple of those goals back in the second and third. It didn’t look like we had our ‘A’ game when it comes to the energy standpoint.

“We didn’t manage the puck as good as we normally do at times in the game but played pretty hard and did some good things, just didn’t capitalize and gave up a few easy ones.”

Ross Colton gave Colorado a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 4:28 of the first period, converting on the rebound of his own shot.

Juraj Slafkovsky tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 7:17. He reached around Georgiev from the right edge of the crease and scored on his own rebound after one-timing Suzuki’s pass from the left side.

“He can be so dominant down there,” Suzuki said. “Nobody can really push him around. He’s got a lot of talent in tight around the net, so it’s nice to see him go in there.”

Makar put the Avalanche in front 2-1 at 1:01 of the second period with a one-timer off a pass from Samuel Girard.

Rafael Harvey-Pinard tied it 2-2 at 16:08, driving to the net and tapping his own rebound under Georgiev’s pads for his first goal of the season.

Caufield made it 3-2 at 1:52 of the third period with a wrist shot from the bottom of the left circle for a power-play goal.

“It was a great shot, taking that space, working off the goal line, going far side,” Suzuki said. “It’s really tough. Not a lot of guys can make that happen.”

Devon Toews one-timed Mikko Rantanen’s cross-ice pass during a 4-on-4 to tie it 3-3 at 9:37.

“Just a lot of average from us tonight, not good enough,” Toews said. “We have such high standards on this team. A lot of teams would be fine being in a one-goal game, and that’s not us. We’ve got to drive the play a little bit more and tonight, we didn’t do that.”

The Avalanche dressed seven defensemen and 11 forwards after it was announced that forward Valeri Nichushkin will be out indefinitely while he receives care from the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program.

“It takes a lot of guts to be able to do that,” Bednar said. “He’s struggling through a time right now, and we wish him the best. We’re going to miss him, no question, but we’re there for him and hopefully, he goes and gets taken care of and is able to get back to us sometime soon.”

NOTES: Nathan MacKinnon extended his point streak to eight games (four goals, 10 assists). … Canadiens forward Jesse Ylönen left the game at 11:34 of the third after he was struck in the head by Montreal defenseman Jayden Struble's clearing attempt as he skated in front of the bench.