(Photo credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images)

Nick Suzuki scored a pair of special-team goals in the first period in a three-point outing to lead the host Montreal Canadiens to a 7-3 beatdown of the struggling Colorado Avalanche on Thursday.Kirby Dach and Juraj Slafkovsky both collected one goal and one assist while Noah Dobson and Jake Evans added singles for the Canadiens, who have won two straight.Goaltender Jakub Dobes made 26 saves.Lane Hutson, Zachary Bulduc and Ivan Demidov all netted a pair of assists.Brock Nelson, Joel Kiviranta and Ross Colton replied for the league-leading Avalanche, who have one win in five games and two in eight (2-4-2).Goalie Scott Wedgewood was victimized for all seven goals while facing 28 shots for Colorado, which wore throwback uniforms of the Quebec Nordiques.It did not take long for the Canadiens to start the rout. Dobson opened the scoring 56 seconds into the clash when he converted a one-timer from the left circle.Nelson replied for the Avalanche with his 14th goal in 15 games, finding the mark with a shot from the slot while using a defender as a screen at the 4:09 mark.However, Suzuki responded with a pair of markers 102 seconds apart. Suzuki converted a rebound for a power-play tally at 5:51.Not long after, while the Canadiens were short-handed, he sprung on a breakaway and tucked home a deke. It is the 16th career two-goal game for the center who is yet to post a hat trick.Evans extended Montreal's lead when he stole the puck from Wedgewood while the Colorado goalie was trying to make a play behind his net, and tucked it into a yawning cage at 16:36 of the third period.Dach then made it a 5-1 score 40 seconds later by banking a shot from behind the net off the embattled Colorado goalie and into the cage.Kiviranta snapped an 18-game goal-scoring drought by burying a rebound chance with 1:56 remaining in the second period, and then Colton pulled the visitors within two by finishing a chance while parked at the edge of the crease at 4:38 of the third period.However, Carrier buried a one-timer set up by Suzuki during a 2-on-1 rush 67 seconds later to quash any comeback hopes.--Field Level Media