Jake Evans made it 4-1 at 16:36 of the second period, stealing the puck away from Wedgewood behind the net and scoring on a wraparound.
Dach extended it to 5-1 just 40 seconds later at 17:16, putting the puck off Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson that then squeaked through Wedgewood at the left post.
Kiviranta cut the deficit to 5-2 at 18:06 when he slid a rebound off a Sam Malinski shot past a lunging Dobes from the left circle.
Colton brought Colorado to within 5-3 at 4:38 of the third period. Valeri Nichushkin threw the puck to the slot from behind the goal line and Colton tapped it in at the top of the crease.
Carrier collected a pass from Suzuki on a 2-on-1 and lifted a snap shot from the left circle to make it 6-3 at 5:45.
“When you’re down three, you’ve got to make a push,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “And you’ve got to create some chances, try to get back in the game. So you’re risking something there, which we did. And we created some looks, didn’t score on them, and then they got their breaks going the other way. That’s the luxury you have when you’re playing with the lead.”
Kapanen threw the puck off Avalanche defenseman Keaton Middleton and it slid to Slafkovsky at the right post, where he scored at 9:55 for the 7-3 final.
“It’s a goalie loss,” Wedgewood said. “It was unfortunate to get one super early, and then just nothing clean for me. And I made some choices that I’ve prided myself on not making and it cost us. You know, I’m OK with some of those going in, it’s just the (bad) bounces and situations that you put yourself in that cause (bad) bounces was something that I needed to smarten up on today.
“And for whatever reason it was just one of those nights that it just gives you a slice of humble pie.”
NOTES: Suzuki has 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in his past seven games. … Canadiens forward Cole Caufield ended a six-game goal streak, the longest of his career. He tied Max Domi (2019-20) and Max Pacioretty (2014-15) for the longest goal streak by a Montreal player since Denis Savard scored in nine straight games in 1990-91. … Dobes extended his point streak to eight games (7-0-1), the longest by a Canadiens rookie goalie since Mike Condon had an eight-game streak in 2015-16.