In Denver, Mikko Rantanen hit for the game-winner on Wednesday night with just under two minutes gone in extra time to give the Avalanche a 2-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens. 
“It is [fun]. It is because we win, right,” Rantanen said. “That’s the biggest thing for me too. So, I’m glad I was able to help with that today.”
Alexandar Georgiev made 19 saves in the win.
Colorado improved to 18-11-2.
“Didn’t like our first, but after that we were excellent,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “I think that we’re doing the right things in order to win hockey games, and No. 1 for me is our checking. If we’re not going to score a lot of goals, I said it the other night, we’ve got to be willing to win games 1-0 and 2-1 and work towards that.”
Montreal took a 1-0 lead in the first period on a marker from Anthony Richard, the goal came off a breakaway.
“They played on top of us tonight,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. “We really struggled versus their pressure. Part of that is them, part of it is us not having a lot of gas and being tired. It’s tough to manage that kind of pressure when you just don’t have the legs, you don’t have the lungs. The thing that goes first is the mind, and it’s hard to make good decisions when the mind’s gone.
“I was really pleased to get to the overtime. If we got two points, we would have stole two points. We didn’t deserve two tonight, and I’m happy we got the point.”
Montreal dropped to 15-15-3.
“I really like that play when I’ve got a [defenseman] on my back when coming with a lot of speed,” Richard said. “That goalie, they’re kind of cheating on their blocker side usually because I’m coming with so much speed. They kind of know you’re trying to go blocker side, so sometimes when you just — a little bit like [Nick] Suzuki is doing in the shootout — if you can find a little hole on the opposite side, sometimes you can get lucky and it goes in.
“It’s a nice moment for me and my family. So, even with the loss, I’ll try to enjoy it a little bit, and it should be a nice couple hours to text my family and my friends.”
Artturi Lehkonen tied the game on the power play in the middle frame for Colorado.
“A really, really good dish there [from Rantanen],” Lehkonen said. “I had a lot of time, so I could receive and shoot it. I was just trying to hit the net.”
Jake Allen made 34 saves in the loss, and really needs to supplement that lack of support suit.
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