Canadiens score 10 in win against Avalanche

MONTREAL -- Max Pacioretty had four goals and an assist, and Tomas Plekanec had four assists for the Montreal Canadiens in a 10-1 win against the Colorado Avalanche at Bell Centre on Saturday.
Pacioretty scored his first two when the Canadiens took a 6-0 lead in the first period. He assisted on Alexander Radulov's goal at 11:35 of the second period and completed his fifth NHL hat trick at 18:33.
Pacioretty made it 10-1 at 7:28 of the third for his first four-goal game and second five-point game. He had three goals and two assists against the Ottawa Senators on April 4, 2014.

WATCH: All Avalanche vs. Canadiens highlights
"Sometimes teams get a break from speed when the third or fourth line goes out there, but not against us," Pacioretty said. "We have four lines that can skate, three sets of [defensemen] that can skate, and I think when we make it hard on defensemen and teams early, it's really hard for them to catch up. And pretty much every game we've won has been because of that."
Brian Flynn scored Montreal's first and sixth goal of the first period. It was the most goals the Canadiens have scored in a period since Jan. 14, 2006, when they scored six in the second period of a 6-2 win against the San Jose Sharks.
Artturi Lehkonen, Paul Byron and Jeff Petry also scored for Montreal (19-6-3), which improved to 14-1-1 at home. Carey Price made 15 saves.

The Canadiens have outscored opponents 15-3 the past two games since returning home from a 2-2-1 road trip when centers Alex Galchenyuk and David Desharnais each injured his knee. Galchenyuk and Desharnais are out 6-8 weeks.
"I think a lot of people thought that our offense would struggle when that happened, and obviously tonight's an anomaly, but guys have stepped up and scored," Flynn said. "[Torrey Mitchell] had two the game before when he got put in a different role so I think we have a lot of character on the team and I think it will continue."
Plekanec's four assists were a NHL career high and the eighth four-point game of his NHL career.
Blake Comeau scored with 13 seconds remaining in the first period for Colorado (10-15-1), which is 1-6-1 in its past eight games.

Avalanche right wing Jarome Iginla became the 16th NHL player to reach 1,500 games.
"Right off the bat, before the game you want to win the game for [Iginla] and you want to play for each other and win for each other," said Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog, who returned after missing 10 games because of a lower-body injury. "So hands down, that was tough to see [Iginla] have to suffer through that one in such a milestone for him."
Avalanche goalie Calvin Pickard allowed four goals on 20 shots in his second straight start. He was replaced by Semyon Varlamov after Lehknonen's goal at 7:12 of the first put Montreal ahead 3-0. Pickard returned to start the third period.
Varlamov allowed six goals on 16 shots, including Petry's power-play goal with 0.1 seconds remaining in the second that gave the Canadiens a 9-1 lead.

Goal of the game

Pacioretty's linemates did a great job of setting up his third goal of the game. Plekanec was behind the Avalanche goal to take defenseman Zach Redmond's pass along the boards from the right point. He passed to Radulov, who curled in toward the net before passing to Pacioretty for a shot into an open left side.

Save of the game

Varlamov tracked a rebound to his left to deny Andrew Shaw's shot at 15:07 of the second period.

Highlight of the game

Byron scored on a breakaway after Nikita Zadorov stumbled while trying to handle a puck passed back to him in the neutral zone. His goal made it 5-0 at 8:41 of the first period.

Unsung moment of the game

Canadiens forward Phillip Danault drew a delayed penalty against John Mitchell behind the Colorado goal and made the pass out front to set up Lehkonen's backhand shot past Pickard.

They said it

"I'm going to take the blame for that one because we weren't prepared to start the game. They're the best team in the League, with the best record at home, and we're all the way down in the standings and we weren't prepared to play. So that one's on me." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar
"It was weird, but we knew that we got bounces, number one, but we also liked our compete level." -- Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty on leading 5-0 at 8:41 of the first period

Need to know

The Canadiens nearly matched their fastest five goals from the start of a game. Montreal scored five goals in the first 8:20 of a 12-5 win at Quebec City on Dec. 24, 1919, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. … It was the most goals Montreal scored in a game since an 11-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Feb. 24, 1990. … Pacioretty has seven goals in his past four games.

What's next

Avalanche: At the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; SN, ALT, NHL.TV)
Canadiens: Host the Boston Bruins on Monday (7:30 p.m. ET; SN, NHLN, RDS, NESN, NHL.TV)