Habs outlast Avs for shootout victory

Cole Caufield and Kirby Dach scored shootout goals and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 in Denver on Saturday night.

Caufield also scored Montreal's lone goal in regulation, while Jakub Dobes had 22 saves through overtime and two more in the shootout.

Mikko Rantanen scored and Mackenzie Blackwood had 23 saves between regulation and overtime and one in the shootout for Colorado, which had its six-game winning streak snapped.

Caufield opened the shootout by deking Blackwood to give the Canadiens the edge. Dobes made saves on Jonathan Drouin and Rantanen before Dach ended the game to cap Montreal's 4-2-0 road trip.

The Avalanche, who are now 4-1 this season in games that last beyond regulation, were without forward Valeri Nichushkin for the second straight game.

Rantanen got the first goal of the night on Colorado's second power-play chance of the game. Nathan MacKinnon had the puck at the top of the left circle and sent a diagonal pass to the right side of the crease as Rantanen crashed the net. The puck went off his right skate and in at 9:01 of the first period.

The Canadiens didn't register a shot on goal until the 9:15 mark of the first period. They finished with just four in the opening frame.

Montreal finally broke through late in the third period. Lane Hutson's poke check on Parker Kelly went to Caufield, who started a two-on-one rush. Caufield passed to Nick Suzuki, and when he got the return pass, he beat Blackwood high on the short side at 13:25.

Colorado went on the power play in the final two minutes of the third, with the man advantage carrying over to the extra session. Montreal's Kaiden Guhle nearly ended the game early in overtime when he came out of the penalty box and got a breakaway chance, but Blackwood stopped his wrister.

Dobes made a save on Artturi Lehkonen's breakaway in the final minute of overtime.

--Field Level Media