Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar missed the lineup on Saturday but the Colorado Avalanche still handed the Montreal Canadiens a 4-1 defeat at the Bell Centre.
The loss halted Montreal’s 12-game point streak, dropping their recent run to 9-0-3. Artturi Lehkonen scored his 15th goal of the season in the third period to secure the victory for the visitors, adding an insurance marker against his former team on Saturday.
Canadiens have cancelled practice that was scheduled for this morning at CN Sports Complex in Brossard. They will face the Colorado Avalanche Saturday night at Bell Centre (7 p.m., SNE, TVA Sports) #Habs pic.twitter.com/Tb6ZgmqrGk
Fedor Svechkov opened the scoring for Colorado just 3 minutes and 57 seconds into the first period, beating goaltender Jakub Dobes on the game’s opening shot. Brock Nelson added a second-period goal, giving him 22 career tallies against the Canadiens, before Lehkonen and a late empty-net goal sealed the final score.
Before the game, Martin St-Louis confirmed that Chris Kreider would miss six to eight weeks due to a lower-body injury, with Florian Xhekaj stepping into the active roster. In goal, Jakub Dobes made his return to the crease, playing his first match since November 5.
Svechkov bats the pass down and the scores it shortly after 😱🚨 pic.twitter.com/muv6kgYi74
For the visiting Avalanche, Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar were sidelined after sustaining lower-body injuries during a recent game against Ottawa, with MacKinnon expected to miss at least a month and Makar projected to be out for about two weeks. Jared Bednar’s squad arrived in Montreal with an 11-6-3 record.
“Our execution offensively, there was a little something missing,” said Martin St-Louis.
Nick Suzuki provided Montreal’s only offense with a spinning backhand shot in the second period, assisted by Juraj Slafkovsky.
“We went to the penalty box too often,” Suzuki said after the game.
NICK SUZUKI SPIN-O-RAMA!! 😱 pic.twitter.com/O8pfsb5c6G
The Canadiens sit at 12-4-4 overall following the contest. Montreal travels to face the New York Rangers on Monday, followed by games against the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday, the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday, and the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday as part of a busy week.
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Dobes had enough of Kadri after Lehkonen made it 3-1 👀 pic.twitter.com/Wf9Kk43yH8