National Hockey League
Avalanche 6, Canadiens 5, SO
National Hockey League

Avalanche 6, Canadiens 5, SO

Published Oct. 16, 2011 4:28 a.m. ET

The Colorado Avalanche found a way to extend their winning streak to four games.

Milan Hejduk and Matt Duchene scored on Colorado's first two attempts in the shootout and the Avalanche earned a 6-5 win over Montreal on Saturday night.

Colorado has won 13 of its past 14 shootouts, including a 3-2 win in Columbus on Monday.

The Avalanche have gotten two points in 28 of their past 38 games that were not decided in regulation.

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''We're a pretty skilled team,'' said center Paul Stastny, who had a goal and an assist.

''Four-on-four we're pretty confident. We've always had good goaltending at breakaways and we can always count on at least one goal out of three. In a game like this I think sometimes that's just what you want to take it into and go from there. It's kind of a coin toss, but we're confident enough to think that we'll be favored if we go into a shootout.''

David Jones had two goals and an assist and Semyon Varlamov made 38 saves during the game for Colorado, which blew three one-goal leads before Kyle Quincey scored with 4:03 left in regulation to send the game to overtime.

Chuck Kobasew scored his first goal for the Avalanche, who have won four in a row on the road since dropping their home opener, including a 7-1 win in Ottawa on Thursday.

''That was a weird one,'' Duchene said. ''It was kind of all bundled up in the middle of the ice for most of the game, nothing really happening, and then all of a sudden somebody would go down and score. It was like every chance someone got it ended up in the net.''

Brian Gionta and David Desharnais scored goals 20 seconds apart in the third to give Montreal a 5-4 lead at 13:17.

Max Pacioretty, Tomas Plekanec and Travis Moen also scored for the Canadiens, who have lost three of four, including their home opener against Calgary on Thursday.

''They're a good young team and what they do well is they pressure the puck all over the ice,'' said Gionta, who also had two assists. ''They've got back pressure, good forecheck, and you don't have the time to make the plays so you've got to make them quick. When we did that we had success. When we didn't, when we slowed things down and lost that support, that's when we got in trouble.''

Carey Price, who stopped 24 shots, came up short in his second straight bid for his 100th career win.

Gionta put a backhand past Varlamov to tie it 12:57 into the third. Desharnais deflected Pacioretty's pass into the right side of the net for his first goal of the season at 13:17, bringing on a roar from the sold-out Bell Centre crowd of 21,273.

''It was a roller coaster,'' Price said. ''I thought the guys played well and deserved better. It was a tough one for me tonight, obviously, with five goals. I wish I would have played better but at least we got a point out of it. We can move forward with that, I guess.''

Jones set up Kobasew's first Colorado goal in the first before scoring twice in the second.

Jones tied it at 2 on a power play 11:37 into the middle period and scored his second goal of the period - his third of the season - at 18:42 to give the Avalanche a 5-4 lead.

Jones erased the Canadiens' 2-1 lead when he drove the left side to take Erik Johnson's pass and cut to the net to put a wrist shot past Price with Pacioretty off for holding.

Stastny made it 3-2 with an unassisted effort 54 seconds later. He got his first of the season on a breakaway, slipping a backhand between Price's pads after stripping the puck from P.K. Subban at center ice.

''I saw the puck was in my range and just made a quick poke at it and went with it,'' Stastny said.

Moen drew Montreal even at 3 with his second goal 15:51 into the second. Moen took Gionta's pass and drove the left side with Colorado defenseman Shane O'Brien in pursuit to slip the puck past Varlamov inside the left post.

Plekanec gave the Canadiens their first lead at 2-1 with a power-play goal 1:35 into the second. The Czech center moved to the deep slot where he drove a slap shot over Varlamov's shoulder into the top right corner for his second goal of the season.

NOTES: Stastny's goal was the 106th of his career, moving him into a three-way tie for sixth overall in Avalanche history with Claude Lemieux and Valeri Kamensky. ... Colorado C Kevin Porter made his season debut as Peter Mueller missed his second straight game because of an undisclosed injury. LW T.J. Galiardi was left out of the lineup. ... Price, drafted fifth overall by Montreal in 2005, is 99-78-25 in 210 regular season games since 2007-08, including 202 starts.

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