Valeri Nichushkin had a goal and an assist, Cale Makar, Gabriel Landeskog and Andre Burakovsky also scored, and the visiting Colorado Avalanche beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 on Thursday night.

Jonas Johansson had 19 saves for the Avalanche while playing on consecutive nights.

Ben Chiarot scored and Jake Allen made 30 saves for the Canadiens.

Colorado played without No. 1 goaltender Darcy Kuemper due to an upper-body injury suffered during the morning skate in Toronto on Wednesday. Justus Annunen was recalled from the AHL to serve as a backup.

The Avalanche also were without defenseman Bo Byram due to issues related to a head injury that kept him out of six games late in November.

After a scoreless first period the teams combined for three goals in the second. Colorado got the first while on the penalty kill. Logan O'Connor stole the puck in the Montreal zone and fed it to Nichushkin as he came down the slot.

Nichushkin wristed the puck at Allen, and it trickled through his pads and in at 3:11. It was Nichushkin's sixth of the season.

The Canadiens tied it a few minutes later with a power-play goal. Montreal worked the puck around the offensive zone to Chiarot at the point, and his shot beat a screened Johansson at 6:51 of the second.

It was his fifth goal of the season.

The Avalanche took the lead late in the second when Makar took a pass from Samuel Girard and sent a shot from the top of the slot that beat Allen at 15:49. It was Makar's 10th goal of the season and his eighth in the last eight games.

Colorado got a cushion goal early in the third period when Nazem Kadri sent the puck to the front of the net and Burakovsky backhanded it by Allen at 2:31. It was his seventh of the season.

Allen came off for an extra skater with 3:43 left in the third and Landeskog scored into the empty net at 17:11. It was his seventh of the season.

--Field Level Media