Suzuki gets 3 points, Canadiens ease past Avalanche

MONTREAL -- Nick Suzuki had two goals and an assist for the Montreal Canadiens in a 7-3 win against the Colorado Avalanche at Bell Centre on Thursday.

Kirby Dach and Juraj Slafkovsky each had a goal and an assist, and Jakub Dobes made 26 saves for the Canadiens (30-17-7), who have won two straight.

“We had a good start straight from the first shift,” Slafkovsky said. “We got in their zone, we were making plays, we got a big goal on the power play, then [on] the PK, so it’s a big win, for sure, but now we have to focus on Saturday (at the Buffalo Sabres).

Montreal lost 7-2 at Colorado on Nov. 29.

“Splitting the season series with them is always good,” Suzuki said. “And I loved our game tonight, and we got rewarded for it.”

Lane Hutson, Zachary Bolduc, Oliver Kapanen and Ivan Demidov each had two assists.

“Obviously we didn’t have the result we wanted last time we played them so it was a good bounce back,” Canadiens defenseman Alexandre Carrier said.

Brock Nelson, Joel Kiviranta and Ross Colton scored for the Avalanche (35-8-9), who have lost six of their past eight games (2-4-2), including 5-2 at the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday. Scott Wedgewood made 21 saves.

“It was just kind of the same thing as last night, a little bit of inconsistency, a lot of ups and downs in the game,” Colorado defenseman Cale Makar said. “And we just have to find a way to mitigate that because once it gets out of control it obviously it’ll happen like what happened tonight.”

Dobson put Montreal up 1-0 just 56 seconds into the first period following a face-off win by Kapanen. Slafkovsky collected the puck in the right face-off circle and knocked it back to Hutson. Hutson then fed a pass to Dobson, who buried a one-timer to the blocker side from the left circle.

Nelson tied it 1-1 at 4:09, skating into the offensive zone and beating Dobes' glove with a long-distance wrist shot. It was his 12th goal since Jan. 1, the most in the NHL over that span.

Suzuki put Montreal ahead 2-1 with a power-play goal at 5:51. Demidov took a wrist shot from the right circle and Suzuki put the rebound past Wedgewood from in front.

Suzuki scored his second on a short-handed breakaway at 7:33 for a 3-1 lead. He chased down Kapanen’s long backhand flip pass up the middle, skated in alone and slid a backhander under Wedgewood’s stick.

Jake Evans made it 4-1 at 16:36 of the second period, stealing the puck away from Wedgewood behind the net and scoring on a wraparound.

Dach extended it to 5-1 just 40 seconds later at 17:16, putting the puck off Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson that then squeaked through Wedgewood at the left post.

Kiviranta cut the deficit to 5-2 at 18:06 when he slid a rebound off a Sam Malinski shot past a lunging Dobes from the left circle.

Colton brought Colorado to within 5-3 at 4:38 of the third period. Valeri Nichushkin threw the puck to the slot from behind the goal line and Colton tapped it in at the top of the crease.

Carrier collected a pass from Suzuki on a 2-on-1 and lifted a snap shot from the left circle to make it 6-3 at 5:45.

“When you’re down three, you’ve got to make a push,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “And you’ve got to create some chances, try to get back in the game. So you’re risking something there, which we did. And we created some looks, didn’t score on them, and then they got their breaks going the other way. That’s the luxury you have when you’re playing with the lead.”

Kapanen threw the puck off Avalanche defenseman Keaton Middleton and it slid to Slafkovsky at the right post, where he scored at 9:55 for the 7-3 final.

“It’s a goalie loss,” Wedgewood said. “It was unfortunate to get one super early, and then just nothing clean for me. And I made some choices that I’ve prided myself on not making and it cost us. You know, I’m OK with some of those going in, it’s just the (bad) bounces and situations that you put yourself in that cause (bad) bounces was something that I needed to smarten up on today.

“And for whatever reason it was just one of those nights that it just gives you a slice of humble pie.”

NOTES: Suzuki has 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in his past seven games. … Canadiens forward Cole Caufield ended a six-game goal streak, the longest of his career. He tied Max Domi (2019-20) and Max Pacioretty (2014-15) for the longest goal streak by a Montreal player since Denis Savard scored in nine straight games in 1990-91. … Dobes extended his point streak to eight games (7-0-1), the longest by a Canadiens rookie goalie since Mike Condon had an eight-game streak in 2015-16.