The Montreal Canadiens have never been in the game against the Colorado Avalanche Monday night at the Bell Center.
The visitors beat goalkeeper Jake Allen three times in the first 10 minutes and eventually won 8-4.
The moment of the match, however, came a few moments after the three close successes of the “Avs”, but before the end of the first engagement. After seeing the Canadian honor him in a video, Artturi Lehkonen hit the target against his former team. The crowd warmly applauded him, as in the days when he was a hit in the blue-white-red uniform.
It was Lehkonen’s second of the game, but his first goal went to defender Logan O’Connor first. The National League made the correction during the break following the first period. The 27-year-old Finn has thus crossed the milestone of 20 goals this season and 100 career successes.
Lehkonen was unable to finish the match, however, after sustaining an upper body injury during the second period.
Other Avalanche skaters to beat Allen were Bowan Byram, Matt Nieto, Mikko Rantanen and JT Compher. The Canadian veteran was replaced by Samuel Montembeault in the second period, after giving up six times on nine shots. The Quebec goalkeeper was foiled by Nathan MacKinnon and Valeri Nichushkin. He faced 18 pitches.
The goals for Sainte-Flanelle came from the sticks of Josh Anderson, Denis Gurianov, Chris Wideman and Mike Matheson. In addition, forward Rem Pitlick was injured in the first period and did not return to play thereafter.
CH players won’t have much time to worry about this setback, since they have to fly to Pittsburgh, where the Habs will face the Penguins on Tuesday night. This will be the first of a three-game road series for head coach Martin St-Louis’ squad.
