NHL Game Summary - Colorado at Montreal
Montreal, QC (SportsNetwork.com) - P.K. Subban scored twice and Carey Price stood tall with 32 saves, as the Montreal Canadiens held off the Colorado Avalanche, 3-2, at Bell Centre.
Alex Galchenyuk also scored for the Canadiens, who moved to 5-1-0 on the season.
Alex Tanguay and Matt Duchene lit the lamp for Colorado, which dropped its third straight game. Calvin Pickard made 33 stops in defeat.
"We had 10 good scoring chances, and of the 10 seven of them missed the net," Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said. "We have to be much better around their net and put more pucks on their net to make their goalie work a little more."
For the second straight contest, Pickard was pushed into action due to a couple of injuries. The Avalanche placed starter Semyon Varlamov on injured reserve Thursday due to a groin problem and then saw backup Reto Berra leave just 2:46 into that night's game against the Ottawa Senators. Pickard was recalled from Lake Erie of the American Hockey League, and made 23 saves on 27 shots faced in his NHL debut as Colorado lost 5-3.
On Saturday, Pickard stopped all 17 shots he faced in the opening period, but despite carrying a 1-0 lead after the first 20 minutes, the Avalanche fell apart in the middle stanza when they allowed three goals.
Subban's power-play tally at 4:13 tied the game. With Marc-Andre Cliche in the penalty box for holding, the Canadiens swung the puck around to Subban, whose scored on a blast from above the left circle.
Galchenyuk skated through the right circle before tucking the puck by Pickard at 11:23 for a 2-1 Montreal lead.
The Canadiens expanded their advantage with 2:01 remaining. Subban chased down a long pass from Lars Eller that caromed off the boards and went to the end line, to the left of the net. Subban skated to the right circle and tucked the puck by Pickard's right pad into the net.
"As I turned around the net, I was looking for Lars," Subban said. "I knew he was coming, but their defenseman took him out. I was tight with the goalie to make the move. He bit on it and before I knew it I had an open net."
The Avalanche got one back with 2:31 left in the third when Duchene, who was falling down in the right circle, managed to deflect Jarome Iginla's shot past Price.
Tanguay's shot from the slot was turned aside by Price with a half-minute left, and then Jamie McGinn was denied on the doorstep by the Montreal netminder about 10 seconds later.
The Avalanche scored just 2:23 into the game. Tanguay carried the puck into the offensive zone's left circle before firing a centering pass to John Mitchell, who held the disc before returning it to a streaking Tanguay in front for the initial score.