Rapid Recap: Blues 4, Avalanche 1

The St. Louis Blues scored four unanswered goals as the Colorado Avalanche opened its 25th anniversary season with a 4-1 loss on Wednesday night at Ball Arena.
Andre Burakovsky tallied the opening marker of the game and the campaign for Colorado at 4:55 of the first period, but Oskar Sundqvist scored his first of two goals on the night less than five minutes later to tie the game for the Blues. Jordan Kyrou also found twine with less that seven minutes to go before the intermission to give St. Louis a 2-1 lead at the break.

Kyle Clifford joined Sundqvist in recording tallies in the third period for the Blues.
J.T. Compher and Samuel Girard had assists on Burakovsky's goal, which came on the power play.
The Avalanche had won four straight season openers entering the contest.
Statistics
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Highlights
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Photo Gallery
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Postgame Notes

THE GOALS

1st Period
4:55 COL (1-0) - PPG, Andre Burakovsky opened the Avalanche's scoring on the 2020-21 campaign with a slap shot from the slot off a pass from J.T. Compher. Samuel Girard also assisted.
9:32 STL (1-1) - Oskar Sundqvist tapped in the puck on a rush up the ice with Jaden Schwartz to knot the score.
13:15 STL (1-2) - Jordan Kyrou took a quick cross pass from Tyler Bozak and knocked the puck into an open net.
2nd Period
No scoring
3rd Period
6:46 STL (1-3) - St. Louis forced a turnover behind the Colorado net, and Ivan Barbashev found Kyle Clifford open in the slot for the Blues' third-consecutive goal.
14:22 STL (1-4) - Oskar Sundqvist scored on a rebound after Robert Thomas passed him the puck from behind the net.
Final: Blues - 4 | Avalanche - 1

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 1 for 4
St. Louis: 0 for 2

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Philipp Grubauer made his second consecutive opening-night start and made 28-of-32 saves.
St. Louis: Jordan Binnington stopped 26 shots, including all 23 in the final two periods of play.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

The Avs began a two-game home series against the St. Louis Blues, marking the first time they will play the same opponent in two straight regular-season home games since Oct. 27-29, 2005 against the Vancouver Canucks

NOTEBOOK

Pierre Lacroix was honored with a moment of silence before the game, as the former team president and general manager passed away on Dec. 13… Avalanche player will wear 'PL' decals on its helmets throughout the season in honor of him… With Erik Johnson out, Mikko Rantanen wore the second alternate captain 'A' patch… Colorado debuted a new uniform look, replacing its traditional black helmet, gloves and pants with blue ones… Also new this year are sponsors on helmets, with Ball Corporation on the Avalanche's… The game marked the third-latest season opener in franchise history behind the lockout-shortened 1994-95 (Jan. 21) and 2012-13 (Jan. 19) campaigns… Colorado began the season at home for the third straight year and the 12th time in the past 15 campaigns… The Avalanche was playing its first game on home ice since March 11, 2020 versus the New York Rangers (3-2 OT win)… The Avalanche is now 23-11-7 all-time on opening night since moving to Colorado in 1995-96... The team now has a 16-6-3 mark at home and a 14-3-2 record at Ball Arena in home openers.

BIG HIGHLIGHT(S)

The season-opening marker

Pregame tribute to Pierre Lacroix

IMAGE OF THE GAME

A new campaign is underway.

ROSTER REPORT

Forward Brandon Saad and Devon Toews made their Avalanche debuts… Rookie blueliner Conor Timmins made his second consecutive opening night roster… Rookie Bowen Byram is still in quarantine after arriving in Colorado last week following winning a silver medal with Team Canada at the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship. He can join team activities beginning on Saturday.

INJURY UPDATE

Erik Johnson is out per protocol after testing positive for COVID-19. He could return to the team for workouts as early as Saturday.

UP NEXT

Colorado faces the St. Louis Blues for the second and final game of the season-opening series on Friday at 7 p.m. MT at Ball Arena. The teams will meet a total of eight times this year, including again in Denver on April 3 and April 20.

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on the start of the game
Forwards
95 Andre Burakovsky - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 91 Nazem Kadri - 20 Brandon Saad
13 Valeri Nichushkin - 37 J.T. Compher - 72 Joonas Donskoi
17 Tyson Jost - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 11 Matt Calvert
Defensemen
7 Devon Toews - 8 Cale Makar
49 Samuel Girard - 22 Conor Timmins
27 Ryan Graves - 28 Ian Cole
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer (starter)
39 Pavel Francouz (backup)