Tough night in Montreal for Patrick Roy's homecoming. The Avalanche lost 6-3 to the Canadiens and center John Mitchell went to the hospital for precautionary X-rays after hurting his back in the second period.
The Denver Post reported that Mitchell rejoined the team in time for the overnight flight to Winnipeg, where the Avalanche plays Wednesday, but his status won't be known until the morning.
Mitchell was hurt when he slid back first into the end boards trying to get the puck from Lars Eller.
Losing Mitchell for any length of time would be a huge hit, even though Paul Stastny returned and played nearly 21 minutes after he missed all but one shift of the previous five games with a back injury.
Mitchell doesn't do anything flashy, but he had three goals and two assists in Stastny's absence, can play all three forward positions, kill penalties and play some on the power play.
Other than Mitchell leaving the hospital, the good news for the Avalanche is that Chicago lost 3-2 in overtime to Philadelphia. The Blackhawks picked up a point in the standings and have 93 points, same as the Avalanche. But the Avalanche remains second in the Central Division with more wins (44-39 and, more important, 41-34 in regulation and overtime wins).
Both teams have 13 games remaining. The Avalanche has five at home and eight on the road, including Wednesday's game in Winnipeg where goalie Reto Berra will make his first start since his March 5 acquisition from Calgary. Guess we're all pretty curious to see how he plays after working with goalie coach Francois Allaire.
Berra suited up Tuesday for the first time since the trade, sitting as Jean-Sebastien Giguere's backup. It wasn't all Giguere's fault for the loss, but it wasn't one of his better games.
Jamie McGinn knocked in his own rebound at 10:05 of the third period for his 18th goal to get the Avalanche even 3-3, but Thomas Vanek completed a hat trick with back-to-back power-play goals and Dale Weise scored into an empty net.
Vanek, who hadn't scored in five games since his March 5 trade from the New York Islanders, collected his second and third goals 2:55 apart. He broke the 3-3 tie after Giguere was penalized for holding Max Pacioretty's stick. Avalanche penalty killers Marc-Andre Cliche and Jan Hejda whiffed on clearing attempts, allowing the Canadiens to keep the puck in the offensive zone before Vanek made it 4-3. Hejda was in the box for tripping when Vanek scored again.
The Avalanche took a 1-0 and 2-1 leads on goals by Nathan MacKinnon and Max Talbot. It was just the second regulation loss in 39 games (34-2-3) when the Avalanche scored the first goal.
"I liked the game. We did a lot of good things," Roy told reporters. "Sometimes the small details can make the difference between winning and losing. We missed a couple clears on the penalty killing."
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As expected, the Bell Centre crowd gave Roy a rousing ovation.
"I was a little embarrassed," Roy said. "I thought they showed a lot of class. It was nice. They didn't make a big thing, and it's the way I wanted it."
Avalanche players wanted badly to win this one for Roy.
"(Ryan) O'Reilly hurt himself last game, he wanted to play," Roy said. "Stastny came back tonight. I knew what they were doing. I've been in this league long enough. I have a lot of respect for my players and I certainly appreciate what these guys have done. But I didn't want them feeling pressure of winning a hockey game for their coach. I wanted them to go out there and win for the hockey team.
"It's all about our team here, and I certainly don't want to put myself ahead of the team. It was important for me to let them know I'm already proud of them. I'm already very happy to be part of this partnership with the players. I didn't need a special night."
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Stastny played 20:42 in his first game since getting hurt March 8 against St. Louis. He had one shot on goal and won 11 of 18 faceoffs but posted a minus-2 plus/minus rating ... The Canadiens outshot the Avalanche 36-28. They went 2-for-3 on power plays and killed all three of Colorado's man advantages ... Matt Duchene had two assists, McGinn a goal and an assist, and MacKinnon six shots to go with his goal.