Avalanche Beat Blues 4-1 to Extend Point Streak to Four Games

The Colorado Avalanche topped the St. Louis Blues 4-1 in the final meeting of the regular season between the two Central Division opponents on Saturday afternoon at Enterprise Center in the first half of a back-to-back set. Colorado extended its point streak to four games (3-0-1) and is now 30-19-5 on the season.

For the Avalanche, Mikko Rantanen (1G, 1A) notched his 200th-career goal, while Bowen Byram scored twice - including once on the power play) and Valeri Nichushkin (power play) also found the back of the net. Nathan MacKinnon, Samuel Girard and J.T. Compher each handed out two assists.
Justus Annunen turned aside 19 of the 20 shots he faced as he made his second-career start. Cale Makar returned to the lineup for the first time since Feb. 7 after being sidelined with an upper-body injury. The Avalanche utilized a lineup of 12 forwards and six defensemen.
For the Blues, Sammy Blais scored. Between the pipes, Jordan Binnington made 29 saves on 33 shots.

GAME SUMMARY:

First Period:
16:37 - COL 1, STL 0 - Nathan MacKinnon skated into the slot and sent a cross-ice feed for Rantanen, who wired his shot just below the crossbar to give Colorado a 1-0 lead and to tally his 200th-career goal.

Second Period:
7:37 - COL 2, STL 0 - On a quick transition play, Rantanen send a cross-ice feed to Byram off the rush. The defenseman skated to atop the left faceoff circle and beat Binnington with a low far-side wrist shot to double the Avalanche's lead 2-0.

15:28 - COL 2, STL 1 -After failing to exit the zone, the St. Louis forecheck intercepted a pass at Colorado's blueline and countered with a tic-tac-toe passing sequence from Logan Brown to Jordan Kyrou, which concluded with Blais burying the puck on the backdoor.
Third Period:
2:56 - COL 3, STL 1, PPG - On Colorado's third power play of the game, the unit cycled the puck around the zone and Nathan MacKinnon fired a low shot from distance, which Binnington made the pad save on, but Nichushkin put away on the doorstep.

9:40 - COL 4, STL 1, PPG - Colorado's second power play unit moved the puck around the zone and Girard sent the puck to the right faceoff circle, where Byram blasted a one-timer to bury his second goal of the afternoon and extend the Avalanche's lead 4-1.

NOTEWORTHY:

• Rantanen tallied his team-leading 35th-goal of the season and 200th-career goal as he snapped a six-game scoring slump.
• Byram buried his third and fourth goals of the season as well as his first power-play strike.
• Nichushkin posted his ninth goal of the season and seventh on the power play.
• With two assists, MacKinnon extended his point streak to four games where he produced nine points (4G, 5A) in that span.
• Makar returned to the lineup for the first time since Feb. 7 after being sidelined with an upper-body injury that he sustained against Pittsburgh. The defenseman skated alongside Devon Toews, totaled 21:27 minutes (3:08 on the power play, 2:39 on the penalty kill), fired off one shot and threw one hit.
• Ben Meyers drew in the lineup and skated alongside Matt Nieto and Denis Malgin and logged nine minutes and posted two shots.
• After returning to the lineup in the last game against Minnesota, Josh Manson did not play. The team announced the defenseman - who had previously been sidelined since Dec. 1 with a lower-body injury - will not play both games of back-to-back sets for the time being.
• Annunen made his first start of the season with the Avalanche and second-career start while his record improved to2-0-1.
• Colorado finished the game 2-for-4 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
• Manson, Pavel Francouz (lower body) and Darren Helm (lower body) were scratches for the Avalanche.

NEXT GAME:

The Avalanche return to Denver to close out their back-to-back set as they host Edmonton on Sunday afternoon. The puck drops between the Avs and Oilers on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. MT.