MONTREAL -- Max Pacioretty is heating up. And in the wake of key injuries on offense, so too are the rest of his teammates.

Pacioretty scored four goals and added an assist and Tomas Plekanec recorded four assists as the Montreal Canadiens buried the Colorado Avalanche 10-1 on Saturday night at the Bell Centre.

It marked the team's largest margin of victory since February 24, 1990, when Montreal beat Pittsburgh 11-1.

"We came out with a lot of jump," said Pacioretty of the Canadiens, who jumped out to a 6-0 lead before the game was 14 minutes old. "We knew that was a vulnerable team and we were able to get on them early but it wasn't early, definitely not. The scoreboard might have shown that, but it was through hard work and through our depth."

Brian Flynn (two), Artturi Lehkonen, Paul Byron, Alexander Radulov and Jeff Petry also scored for Montreal (19-6-3), which scored 10 goals in a game for the first time since a 10-1 vicitory over the Vancouver Canucks on February 14, 1990.

"It was embarrassing," Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog said. "We got our (butts) whooped tonight."

Flynn got the rout going when he scored on a rebound for his first goal of the season at 2:56.

Pacioretty doubled the lead just over two minutes later with a wicked wrister that went top shelf and then Lehkonen got in on the action with a backhander in the crease to chase Calvin Pickard from the net after giving up three goals on 10 shots. Pacioretty scored again 1:10 later.

Semyon Varlamov didn't fare much better.

Pacioretty picked up his second goal of the game when he tipped in Andrei Markov's point shot and then Byron converted on a breakaway.

Flynn connected again when his backhander from the left circle beat Varlamov five-hole, putting Montreal ahead 6-0 at 13:47. It's the second-fastest the Canadiens reached six goals to start a game in franchise history behind the record set at 10:35 on March 10, 1951, against Chicago.

"I'm going to take the blame for that one because we weren't prepared to start the game," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "They're the best team in the league with the best record at home and we're all the way down in the standings and we weren't prepared to play. That one's on me."

It also marked the first time since January 14, 2006, against the San Jose Sharks (at the Bell Centre) that the Canadiens scored six goals in a period.

Blake Comeau scored for Colorado (10-15-1).

Carey Price made 15 saves for the Canadiens (19-6-3), who are 14-1-1 on home ice this season.

The Avalanche didn't leave the first period empty-handed, with Comeau busting the shutout with 13 seconds remaining in the period.

But Montreal kept the goals coming in the second period. Radulov scored his sixth of the season at 11:35, Pacioretty completed his hat trick at 18:33 and Petry hit the back of the net on the power play with one-tenth of a second remaining in the period.

Plekanec, whose offense has been slow to come around this season, picked up his fourth helper of the night on Pacioretty's hat trick tally, and has six points in the last three games. He also moved up in the franchise's record books, claiming 16th place on the team's all-time assists list with 348 for his career.

"I've been doing all the right things so I was confident in my game," he said. "I didn't forget how to play hockey. It's just sometimes it's longer than you would have liked it to be."

Pickard returned to start the third period but the Canadiens weren't done.

Pacioretty scored his fourth of the game at 7:28 when he poked home a loose puck right by Pickard's pad.

NOTES: Avalanche RW Jarome Iginla suited up for his 1,500th career NHL game, giving him sole possession of 16th place on the league's games played list. ... Colorado LW Gabriel Landeskog returned to lineup after missing 10 games because of injury. ... The Avalanche scratched D Eric Gelinas and LW Cody McLeod. ... The Canadiens scratched RW Michael McCarron and D Mark Barberio, both of whom were called up from the American Hockey League's St. John's IceCaps on Friday night. ... Montreal C Tomas Plekanec appeared in his 871st career game, tying him with Steve Shutt for 14th on the team's games played list.