At the Rink: Blues at Avalanche

DENVER -- The St. Louis Blues will take a three-game winning streak into their game Friday against the Colorado Avalanche at Pepsi Center with a chance to move within three points of the Central Division-leading Chicago Blackhawks (9 p.m. ET; FS-MW, ALT).

The Blues (28-15-7) have won five of their past six games following a stretch in which they lost three consecutive games in overtime or a shootout. That included a 4-3 overtime loss to the Avalanche (24-21-3) on Jan. 6 when they squandered a late lead.

Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon scored with 1:29 left in regulation to tie the game in a 6-on-5 skating situation and Gabriel Landeskog won it with 16.5 seconds remaining in the extra period.

"That still stings a bit, but we had a stretch there where that was kind of a script to the game, where we had a lead and would give it up and tried to scrounge an extra point in overtime or in a shootout," Blues center David Backes said. "We learned a lesson from those games. In the last 5-10 minutes of games lately we've buckled down and secured the win when we've had the lead."

The Blues have outscored teams 19-13 in the past six games despite going 2-for-19 on power plays.

"Great goaltending (from Brian Elliott) doesn't hurt by any means, but we're putting pucks in good spots and playing as a group and picking each other up," Backes said. "That has been a common theme in the past couple weeks. We haven't necessarily been lighting up the scoreboard, but we've been finding ways to be on the right side of it, and that's what counts."

The Avalanche won two previous games against the Blues this season, including a 3-1 win in St. Louis when goalie Semyon Varlamov made 42 saves. Colorado has gone 10-3-1 against division opponents.

"That's been a key to where we are," Avalanche center Matt Duchene said. "Obviously these guys are a great team. We had a big come-from-behind win against them last time and we want to show the same resiliency if we need to."

Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson has been skating for over a week since he sustained a lower-body injury Jan. 4 against the Los Angeles Kings and wanted to play against his former team, but the medical and training staffs elected to give him one more day. He'll return to the lineup Saturday against the Dallas Stars when the Avalanche begin a three-game road trip.

"I wanted to go tonight, but I understand where they're coming from," Johnson said. "I think it'll be nice to play tomorrow and have a couple days to work on some stuff. I feel great, skated hard yesterday, skated hard today and I feel really good. I'm ready to get back in there and help the team. We're in a good spot right now and I want to come in and help the best I can."

Here are the projected lineups:

BLUES

Alexander Steen - Paul Stastny - Troy Brouwer

Robby Fabbri - Jori Lehtera - Vladimir Tarasenko

Patrik Berglund - David Backes - Ty Rattie

Dmitrij Jaskin - Kyle Brodziak - Ryan Reaves

Jay Bouwmeester - Alex Pietrangelo

Carl Gunnarsson - Kevin Shattenkirk

Joel Edmundson - Colton Parayko

Brian Elliott

Jordan Binnington

Injured: Jake Allen (knee), Steve Ott (hamstring), Magnus Paajarvi (upper body), Jaden Schwartz (ankle)

Scratched: Robert Bortuzzo, Scottie Upshall

AVALANCHE

Alex Tanguay - Nathan MacKinnon - Matt Duchene

Gabriel Landeskog - Carl Soderberg - Mikhail Grigorenko

Andreas Martinsen - Chris Wagner - Jarome Iginla

Cody McLeod - John Mitchell - Jack Skille

Francois Beauchemin - Nikita Zadorov

Nick Holden - Tyson Barrie

Zach Redmond - Chris Bigras

Semyon Varlamov

Calvin Pickard

Injured: Reto Berra (ankle), Erik Johnson (lower body), Ben Street (chest), Brad Stuart (back), Jesse Winchester (head)

Scratched: Nate Guenin, Blake Comeau

Status report: Defenseman Andre Benoit has been assigned to the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League, Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. … Edmundson was hit in the mouth with a puck Friday; if he's unavailable, Bortuzzo will play after missing two games with a lower-body injury. … Comeau will miss the game to be with his wife, who gave birth to their first child Friday. Grigorenko moved up to right wing with Landeskog and Soderberg, with Wagner stepping into his spot at center.

Who's hot: Rattie has three goals in the past four games. … Stastny has two goals in three games. … Soderberg has one goal and two assists in a two-game point streak. … Tanguay has one goal and two assists in a two-game streak.