ST. LOUIS — The Colorado Avalanche did all they could after falling behind and being down and out against the St. Louis Blues. But no matter what they did, St. Louis had a response and held on for the 5-4 win.

The win is historic for the Blues, who are far from feeling that way. It’s a franchise-record 12th straight win for St. Louis, who are still one of the hottest teams in the league, cementing their spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Meanwhile, the Avs haven’t been at their best coming down the stretch at the most important time of the season.

First Period

Colorado found itself in trouble early when Joel Kiviranta was called for cross-checking. Zack Bolduc scored a carbon copy of his goal from last week against the Avs on the man advantage for the early goal.

St. Louis kept pouring it on from there. Jimmy Snuggerud and Pavel Buchnevich just about scored soon after, but Mackenzie Blackwood did just enough to keep them out. Up until then, the hosts looked miles ahead of Colorado.

After killing off a Justin Faulk holding penalty, the Blues would score themselves in a controversial way. Devon Toews was caught by the high-stick of Brayden Schenn, which went uncalled. With Toews out of the play hurt, it left Jake Neighbours alone in front, who beat Blackwood but then ran him over. The goal stood regardless of either play, and the home team had doubled the lead.


Finally, Colorado found its legs and was starting to look more threatening. They had two more power plays with Ryan Suter and Oskar Sundqvist in the box for slashing and high-sticking. But the Avs couldn’t convert, as Jordan Binnington made four huge stops and a slash on Artturi Lehkonen went uncalled in the same timeframe.

Second Period

St. Louis kept it coming early in the period. Buchnevich, who was robbed in the first, made the most of his chance in the second. When he was in front all alone this time, he waited out Blackwood and flipped it home for the 3-0 advantage.

Lehkonen made matters worse by going to the box for hooking. Once again, Bolduc made the Avalanche pay. From practically the same spot in the first on the man advantage, he scored and made it a seemingly insurmountable 4-0 lead.

Miles Wood was hurt when Jordan Kyrou landed on top of him, making matters worse. He did return, though, and helped kill off a Ross Colton goaltending interference penalty.

Colton would actually give the Avs some life right afterward. He came out of the box and was finally able to solve Binnington on a deke move to open the scoring.

Wood followed suit with his second goal in two games. Charlie Coyle did the hard work to beat a couple of Blues and feed him right in front. All of a sudden, what was a dead game was 4-2 going into the room with 20 minutes to go.

Third Period

The Avs had some nice shifts to open the period. But they didn’t manage to get anything threatening on Binnington. The best chance came from Logan O’Connor, but the netminder was up to the task. At the other end, Snuggerud and Bolduc both had looks go astray.

St. Louis did an excellent job closing the door on Colorado, which had the tall order of being down two goals late. They did sneak one back with Blackwood pulled. Nathan MacKinnon got his shot deflected in by the knee of Faulk with 2:18 to go to make it 4-3.

Robert Thomas made sure to put the game away for good, though. His long shot from the defensive zone toward the empty net found its way in via the post.

But even then, Colorado wasn’t done. With 8.5 seconds to go, Sam Malinski would add one more for good measure to make it 5-4. But time had run out, and the empty-netter became the game-winner.

Observations From the Mountaintop

The game was lost in the first half for the Avalanche. Falling behind early on the penalty kill when St. Louis converted hurt. Colorado had three power-play opportunities in the first period but were blanked. From there, the Blues simply had the legs under them and were a class above the Avs. Simply put, they couldn’t respond in time and weren’t fully present for all 60 minutes to make it a more competitive matchup throughout. Plus, defensive errors, particularly on the third St. Louis goal, didn’t help their chances.

The road trip ends on a sour note with the loss, and more importantly, it further cements the playoff position of the Avs. They had opportunities to pounce and at least get a little bit closer to the Dallas Stars and Winnipeg Jets, who lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins and Utah Hockey Club, respectively. The win for St. Louis brings them within five points of the Avs, but it’s still a very slim chance they’ll actually catch them despite winning 12 in a row. Meanwhile, the Avs are still six points behind Dallas and all-but officially can’t catch the Jets for first in the Central Division.

Next Game

Colorado goes home to play its final two regular-season games at Ball Arena. It started on Tuesday night against the Vegas Golden Knights at 7:30 p.m. MT.