Avalanche roll over Condon, Canadiens for 3rd straight win
The Colorado Avalanche may not stay buried deep in the NHL standings for too long.
Sitting last in the Central Division heading into Saturday's action, Patrick Roy's squad rolled into his old stomping ground of Montreal and dropped six goals on the first-place Canadiens en route to their third straight win.
In doing so, they chased Mike Condon from the net, who up to that point had been filling in more than admirably for injured Carey Price, and also handed Montreal its first loss in regulation on home ice this season.
Colorado is in the midst of a seven-game road trip, and Roy could not have asked for a better start.
| Opponent | Result |
|---|---|
| @ Philadelphia | 4-0 |
| @ Boston | 3-2 |
| @ Montreal | 6-1 |
Key to that success has been the play of Reto Berra, who stopped 39 of 40 shots while continuing to steal the show in the injury-related absence of Semyon Varlamov.
In four November starts, Berra posted a record of 3-1-0 with a .960 save percentage.
Nathan MacKinnon's rise also continued Saturday, highlighted by two first-period goals scored 13 seconds apart. The third-year center now has eight goals and 11 assists in 17 games to lead the team in scoring. Matt Duchene also scored his seventh goal in six games, days after his name began popping up in trade rumors.
The Avalanche still remain in quite a hole in the super competitive Central, and the 40 shots against continues an alarming trend of being out shot more often than not, although they did rank 15th in shots against per game prior to Montreal's deluge.
But after Saturday's game, they can now boast a positive goal differential, and may be building the confidence needed for a November resurgence.
Up next for Colorado is visits to Toronto, Pittsburgh, Washington, and Winnipeg.