Blackwood's 24-Saves, Strong Special Teams Lead Avalanche to 4-1 Win Against Canadiens

Massive Win in Montreal

Mackenzie Blackwood's fantastic 24-save performance and Artturi Lehkonen's two-point night helped the Avalanche defeat the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 at Centre Bell on Saturday. Fedor Svechkov, Brock Nelson and Nicolas Roy all added tallies for Colorado, while Brent Burns played in his 1,600th regular-season contest and Alex Gagne made his NHL debut.

How It Happened

Svechkov opened the scoring for the Avs at 3:57 of the first period with his third goal of the season via a shot from the doorstep off the rush.

At 14:02 of the opening frame, Blackwood kept the Avs ahead with a save on Alex Newhook's chance from the doorstep off the rush.

While playing with six skaters due to Montreal's delayed penalty, Colorado doubled its lead at 15:55 of the opening frame when Nelson scored his sixth goal of the season via a one-timer from the bottom of the left circle. With that tally, the 340th of his NHL career, Nelson tied his uncle David Christian for the most goals by players from Minnesota.

Blackwood made several saves to help the Avs kill off its second penalty of the night with stops on Juraj Slafkovsky's backhand shot from the slot and Cole Caufield's left-circle one-timer at 7:42 and 7:48 of the middle frame, respectively.

Suzuki put the Canadiens on the board at 10:25 of the second period with a spin-o-rama backhand shot from the slot.

The Avs took a 3-1 lead on the power play at 4:14 of the third period when Lehkonen scored his 15th goal of the season via a shot from the low slot.

Montreal's Alex Newhook thought he scored to make it a 3-2 game at 10:55 of the third frame, but after review, it was ruled that he made contact with the puck while his stick was above the crossbar.

Roy gave the Avs a 4-1 lead at 19:47 of the final frame with his third goal of the season via an empty-net tally.

Next Up

The Avalanche concludes its stretch of four consecutive road games with a contest against the Utah Mammoth on Wednesday at 8 p.m. MST. Fans in the Avalanche broadcast area can catch the game on Altitude, Altitude+ and Altitude Sports Radio 950 AM. Outside of the Avalanche broadcast area, fans can catch the contest on TNT, HBO Max and the Altitude Sports Radio App.