Artturi Lehkonen scored for a third straight game and had an assist, and Mackenzie Blackwood made 25 saves for Colorado (12-6-3), which extended its point streak to five games (3-0-2).
Colorado was playing its first game without forward Nathan MacKinnon and defenseman Cale Makar, who each sustained a lower-body injury in the second period of a 4-3 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators on Thursday. MacKinnon will be out at least a month; Makar will miss approximately two weeks.
Nick Suzuki scored for Montreal (12-4-4), which was 9-0-3 since a 5-4 loss at the Washington Capitals on Oct. 14. Jakub Dobes made 22 saves.
Fedor Svechkov put the Avalanche up 1-0 at 3:57 of the first period. He drove the net from the left and got a shot past Dobes glove side from in tight after Canadiens defenseman Adam Engstrom backed off to cover Parker Kelly driving in from the right.
Brock Nelson made it 2-0 at 15:55 when he drove a one-timer over Dobes’ left shoulder from low in the right face-off circle with a delayed penalty signaled against Montreal.
Suzuki cut it to 2-1 at 10:25 with a highlight-feel goal. The Canadiens captain spun to his right to get free of Devon Toews and put a backhand over Blackwood’s glove from between the hashmarks after Juraj Slafkovsky held up driving in from the right to set him up at the top of the slot.
Lehkonen gave Colorado a 3-1 lead with a power-play goal at 4:14 of the third period when he fired in his own rebound from the slot.
Alex Newhook appeared to draw the Canadiens within one at 10:55 but a video review determined his stick made contact with the puck above the level of the crossbar when he deflected Kirby Dach’s wrist shot from the left point.
Nicolas Roy shot into an empty net with 13 seconds remaining for the 4-1 final.
The Canadiens were without forward Chris Kreider. The 35-year-old forward will miss 6-8 weeks with a lower-body injury he sustained in a 5-2 win at the Boston Bruins on Thursday.
Colorado defenseman Brent Burns played his 1,600th NHL game paired with Alex Gagne, who made his NHL debut.
