Avalanche score seven, defeat Golden Knights

LAS VEGAS -- The Colorado Avalanche won for the first time in three games, 7-3 against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Monday.

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare had two goals against his former team, and Gabriel Landeskog scored playing in his 600th NHL game for the Avalanche (23-11-3). Pavel Francouz made 29 saves for his fourth consecutive victory.
It was Bellemare's first two-goal game in the NHL. He had a goal and two assists in his first three-point game against Vegas on Oct. 25, a 6-1 Colorado victory.
WATCH: [All Avalanche vs. Golden Knights highlights]
"This building has been good to me the last few months," said Bellemare, who was selected by Vegas in the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft from the Philadelphia Flyers. "I don't know what to tell you. I don't really know how to summarize the whole thing, but I've played good here."
Marc-Andre Fleury allowed seven goals on 38 shots for the Golden Knights (20-14-6), who had a five-game point streak end (4-0-1) in their final game before the Christmas break.

The seven goals-against tied Fleury's NHL career high (Jan. 28, 2006, against the New York Rangers).
"Three goals in this league should give you a chance to win," Vegas forward Mark Stone said. "It just shows our defensive game wasn't there, especially when our goaltender plays well."
Bellemare scored the first of three first-period goals for Colorado when he made it 1-0 at 4:37. He deked by defenseman Shea Theodore and scored on his backhand.
Ryan Reaves tied it 1-1 at 10:23, but Matt Nieto scored on a shorthanded breakaway at 14:28 to give the Avalanche a 2-1 lead, and Nazem Kadri made it 3-1 at 17:35.

Max Pacioretty scored his Golden Knights-leading 16th goal at 11:57 of the second to make it 3-2, but Landeskog scored on the power play at 14:06 to give the Avalanche a 4-2 lead.
Bellemare scored his second of the night at 16:58 to make it 5-2. Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant challenged the goal for offside, but it was upheld following video review. Vegas was assessed a minor penalty for delay of game for the unsuccessful challenge.
William Carrier made it 5-3 at 2:06 of the third period, but Mikko Rantanen scored on the power play to make it 6-3 at 3:57.

Valeri Nichushkin scored at 16:53 for the 7-3 final.
Colorado allowed three straight goals in the third period of a 3-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday and four straight goals in the third in a 5-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday.
Bellemare said the message heading into the third was to finish strong.
"This game is not over. We were absolutely not happy the last two third periods," he said. "There was no way it was going to happen to us again."
The Avalanche were 2-for-5 on the power play. The Golden Knights went 0-for-1.

They said it

"We should've had at least three points out of [the last three games]. We weren't happy about it. We know that offensively we're always going to create our chances. We didn't force that much tonight. We just tried to make them work for their chances, and we got ours." -- Avalanche forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare
"We've had a lot of injuries and we've overcome quite a bit of adversity already in the first half of the season, and we're kind of getting through that injury bug now. The depth that (general manager) Joe [Sakic] brought in in the offseason … we like the depth that we have, and guys are buying into those roles and they're coming to play every night." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar
"It's a real good time for the break. We've been playing real hard and real well before. Tonight was a stinker, but we'll get by it and get back to good hockey [at the Anaheim Ducks] on the 27th." -- Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant

Need to know

Colorado has won four straight games against Vegas dating to Feb. 18, outscoring the Golden Knights 20-7. ... Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon had two assists and has 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in the past nine games. ... Theodore had his five-game point streak end (two goals, six assists). He was a Vegas-worst minus-4 in 17:39. ... Pacioretty has 11 points (six goals, five assists) in the past eight games. ... Golden Knights defenseman Nate Schmidt had an assist on Carrier's goal and is one from 100 in the NHL. ... Vegas forward Reilly Smith also had an assist on Carrier's goal and is one from 200 in the NHL. ... Fleury remains one win from tying Curtis Joseph for sixth in NHL history (454).

What's next

Avalanche: Host the Minnesota Wild on Friday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV)
Golden Knights: At the Anaheim Ducks on Friday (10 p.m. ET; PRIME, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)