Colorado Avalanche centre John Mitchell (7) celebrates his goal against Montreal Canadiens goalie Dustin Tokarski (35) with teammates during the third period at Bell Centre in Montreal on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015.Jean-Yves Ahern
Nathan MacKinnon scored goals 13 seconds apart in a three-goal Colorado first period as the Avalanche jumped on a shaky Mike Condon to defeat the Montreal Canadiens 6-1 on Saturday night.
Mikhail Grigorenko, filling in on the top line for the suspended Gabriel Landeskog, scored a goal and set up both of MacKinnon's markers.
Blake Comeau, Matt Duchene and John Mitchell also scored for Colorado (10-9-1), which has won the first three matches on a six-game road trip that next takes them to Toronto on Tuesday night. Duchene's three-point game gave him eight points on the trip.
Brendan Gallagher scored for Montreal (13-3-2), which ended a six-game points streak and suffered a first regulation time loss at home this season.
Rookie goalie Condon, who had remarkable numbers in his first six games in relief of injured Carey Price, finally had a rough start and lost in regulation for the first time. He allowed three goals on eight shots in the first period and four on 11 overall. Dustin Tokarski took over for the third period and stopped 11 of 13 shots.
Montreal tested Reto Berra 40 times.
Grigorenko, with his first for the Avalanche, was left alone in front to take a pass from Duchene and score only 3:26 into the game.
A puck squirted to MacKinnon alone in front to score from close range at 18:25. Only 13 seconds later, MacKinnon took a Grigorenko feed on a rush down the left side and placed a gentle backhand over Condon's shoulder to the top corner.
The Bell centre crowd came to life when Gallagher batted his own rebound past Berra 8:48 into the second frame, but Condon let in a short-handed back-breaker at 12:55 when Comeau's harmless-looking shot from the right side got between his pads. It was Comeau's first of the season.
Duchene got his eighth of the season as he popped a shot to the top of the net from the doorstep on a power play at 11:05 of the third. Mitchell was alone in front to score into an open side at 14:10.
Landeskog will also sit out in Toronto. Dennis Everberg moved into the lineup.
With Alexei Emelin out with a lower body injury, Greg Pateryn saw his first action of the season for Montreal. It was the first game missed due to injury by a Canadiens defenceman this season. Alex Semin returned to the lineup replacing Paul Byron after sitting out seven games.
As in other NHL rinks, a minute's silence was held before the game and the crowd gave a rousing ovation for the La Marseillaise in support of victims of attacks Friday in Paris.