There was a lot to like about the Canadiens’ 4-3 win over the Colorado Avalanche Monday night at the Bell Centre.
Juraj Slafkovsky scored his first goal in 10 games, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard scored his first goal this season, Cole Caufield scored his fifth goal in the last nine games and Joel Armia scored the winner at 15:50 of the third period — his seventh goal after starting the season with the AHL’s Laval Rocket.
Ross Colton, Cale Makar and Devon Toews scored for the Avalanche as their record fell to 28-13-3.
So, what did Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki like most about this game?
“Probably just our group effort,” he said after picking up two assists. “Got some goals from other lines. When we were out there against (Nathan) MacKinnon’s line, all five of us were doing a real good job. They got some chances, it’s going to happen, but just our five-man game was really good tonight against them. It definitely made a difference in the game.”
The Avalanche’s No. 1 line of MacKinnon between former Canadien Jonathan Drouin and Mikko Rantanen failed to score. MacKinnon had a team-high seven shots, but couldn’t beat Allen, who was 1-8-1 in his previous 10 starts while his teammates scored 18 goals combined during that span.
“Obviously, you want to win every game,” Allen said after making 32 saves as the Avalanche outshot the Canadiens 35-34. “I’m a realist in every sense of the word in my life. I understand that there’s going to be stretches like this and there’s going to be stretches where I feel like I can’t stop a beach ball but I can’t lose a game. I’ve had that in my career … I had that last year even. I feel fairly solid about my game … it’s just been tough to find a way to win. To be able to get it here tonight at home is a good feeling.”
“Of course, it gets frustrating if you don’t score for a while,” Slafkovsky said after banging in a rebound of a Suzuki shot on a power play to tie the score 1-1 at 7:17 of the first period. “But I’m just trying to smile every day and come with a smile to the rink and hopefully the next day is the day.”
“Just trying to position myself to be in a good spot for a rebound and retrieve pucks,” he said. “I feel like it’s getting better. Definitely not there yet, but getting better.”
Slafkovsky is also starting to shoot the puck more. He led the Canadiens with six shots, tying his career high.
After Makar put the Avalanche up 2-1 at 1:01 of the second period, Harvey-Pinard scored his first goal in the 16 games he has played this season, driving to the net with the puck and then banging his own rebound past goalie Alexandar Georgiev.
Caufield’s power-play goal at 1:52 of the third period gave the Canadiens a 3-2 lead as he beat Georgiev with a wrist shot high to the glove side. Caufield has had a tendency to shoot high to the short side and he seemed to catch Georgiev by surprise going to the far side this time. It was Caufield’s 13th goal of the season, moving him one ahead of Suzuki for the team lead.
There are now only three players on the Canadiens with more goals than Armia: Caufield (13), Suzuki (12) and Sean Monahan (11). Armia has only played in 27 of the team’s 43 games.
Head coach Martin St. Louis said he has liked Armia’s attitude all season.
“He went down to Laval and he was a great leader down there and played extremely well and came back up and sat in a chair that was available for him,” St. Louis said. “He’s been part of our (penalty) kill … I think he’s been killing extremely well for us. I think he’s having fun. He’s smiling and he’s playing some really good hockey right now. A lot for Army is just that consistency and we’re getting that right now and I hope it keeps going.”
The Canadiens will be back in action Wednesday in New Jersey against the Devils (7 p.m., SN, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).
