Avalanche 3, Canadiens 2
DENVER -- Jarome Iginla scored twice, including a tiebreaking goal with 2:03 remaining, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 on Wednesday night.
Defenseman Erik Johnson also scored, center Matt Duchene had two assists and goaltender Semyon Varlamov made 32 saves for Colorado, which snapped a four-game losing streak at home.
Iginla got the game winner when the Avalanche came on an odd-man rush. Duchene got the puck to center Mikhail Grigorenko at the bottom of the right circle, and he fed Iginla in front of the net. He tapped it for his 17th of the season and 606th of his career.
Montreal goalie Ben Scrivens was pulled for an extra skater with 1:05 left but the Canadiens couldn't get the tying goal.
Center Lars Eller and defenseman Andrei Markov had goals for Montreal (27-27-4). Scrivens stopped 25 shots for the Canadiens.
The Avalanche (30-26-4) were coming off a 2-1 road trip, with one win coming in a shootout against Detroit in a game they were badly outplayed.
Those two points were valuable in the fight for one of the two wild card berths in the Western Conference.
The Canadiens struggled since their hot start to the season. Montreal is six points out of the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference after beginning the year 19-4-3.
The Canadiens had three odd-man rushes in the first eight minutes and cashed in on the last one. Defenseman P.K. Subban carried the puck into the Colorado zone, dropped it back to Markov, who beat Varlamov with a snap shot at 7:40 of the first.
It was his fourth of the season.
Johnson tied it up with a short-handed goal at 3:31 of the second, his ninth, but Eller made it 2-1 with his 10th at 6:38.
Iginla, who had an earlier goal disallowed when he was called for goaltender interference, scored nine seconds into a power play to make it 2-2 at 16:46 of the second.
NOTES: Avalanche RW Jack Skille returned to action after missing five games with a concussion. He suffered it Feb. 4 against Dallas. ... Canadiens C David Desharnais was out of the lineup with a lower-body injury suffered against Arizona on Monday night. Desharnais, who has nine goals and 17 assists this season, missed his first game. ... Colorado G Reto Berra returned to practice but has not been cleared to play again. Berra suffered a sprained ankle playing soccer before the Avalanche's game against Toronto on Dec. 21. ... Montreal LW Lucas Lessio was activated from injured reserve. Lessio missed six games with a lower-body injury.