MONTREAL — The Avalanche’s 10-game winning streak came to an end Tuesday night in Montreal. Here’s the game story.
THREE STARS
- Jonathan Drouin. Had a goal and two assists, was plus-2 and won eight-of-11 faceoffs.
- Jeff Petry. Canadiens defenseman logged 24:33 and was plus-1.
- . Made 39 saves for the Avs.
WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED
The Avs trailed for 54:18 in this game, after trailing for just 1:34 in its previous 10 games.
NEXT UP
At St. Louis, Thursday, 6 p.m. MT
Jared Bednar following first loss since Dec. 27
— Mike Chambers (@MikeChambers)
FIVE TAKEAWAYS
No excuses … but. The Avs were lucky to be in a scoreless tie after 1. They were losing foot races and puck battles throughout the first period. Montreal had jump and that paid off in the second period and beyond. The thing is, Colorado came out flat for the first time in 11 games. It happens. On to St. Louis.
Broken record. Colorado lost 32 of 52 draws (38 percent). At some point, we need to research and see how many games the Avs have been better than 50 percent in the circle. They’re still last in the NHL in this stat at 44.5 percent.
Rough stuff. Montreal delivered 43 hits to Colorado’s 23. One team was fresh. The other was tired.
Drouin vs. MacKinnon. The former major-junior linemates for the Halifax Mooseheads both had goals, but Drouin had two helpers and was on the winning end.
Great Nate. MacKinnon’s goal was his team-leading 24th, tying his career-high — in which he established in his Calder Trophy-winning season of 2013-14, at age 18. MacKinnon, 22, is now just a point behind Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov for the NHL scoring lead. MacKinnon has 24-36 — 60 in 47 games. Kucherov has 27-34 — 61 in 48 games.
Notebook: Montreal-raised Avalanche defenseman was acquired off waivers from Canadiens via
— Mike Chambers (@MikeChambers)
