Avalanche Head into All-Star Break on a Winning Note after Beating Blues

Heading into the All-Star break with a win.
The Colorado Avalanche topped the St. Louis Blues 4-2 on Saturday afternoon at Ball Arena. Colorado is now 27-18-3 on the season.

For the Avalanche, Alex Newhook, J.T. Compher, Evan Rodrigues and Matt Nieto (empty net) scored. Logan O'Connor handed out two assists. In Colorado's net, Alexandar Georgiev turned aside 26 of the 28 shots he faced. The Avalanche utilized a lineup of 11 forwards and seven defensemen for the eighth-straight game.
For the Blues, Brayden Schenn scored a power-play strike, while Ivan Barbashev also found the back of the net. Between the pipes, Jordan Binnington made 27 saves on 30 shots.

GAME SUMMARY:

Colorado got back in the win column and picked up a big two points in the standings heading into the All-Star break as they executed a solid effort on Saturday afternoon with a 4-2 win over the Blues.
Newhook opened the scoring in a dominant first period by the Avalanche as they potted a pair of goals in the span of 2:14 and took a 14-9 shot advantage - including an 8-3 lead in shots at the midway mark - heading into the first intermission.
After an unsuccessful power play at 4:18, the Avalanche continued the momentum and capitalized at 9:22 with Newhook's icebreaker. The winger collected a pass from O'Connor drove to the net from the left faceoff circle, unleashed a shot that Binnington made the pad save on, but followed his rebound to wire a low look into the net while scoring on his 22nd birthday and his third goal in the last four games.

Colorado doubled its lead 2-0 at 11:36 as Newhook was the initial catalyst for the chance. The winger regained possession of the puck in the neutral zone and snapped a pass to Ben Meyers, who entered the play off the bench. As the Avalanche cycled the puck around a disarrayed St. Louis' set of skaters, Samuel Girard fired a point shot on net. At the net front, Compher tipped the puck, but Binnington kicked the puck out. Compher grabbed the rebound and curled the puck past the Blues goalie.

Colorado came out with an electric start to the second period as they upped their lead 3-0 and held the Blues without a shot through seven minutes, outshooting them 6-0 in that span.
The middle frame took a chippy start as Matt Nieto and Blues blueliner Torey Krug got into a scuffle and each were sent to the box for roughing. While neither team capitalized on the 4v4, the Avalanche extended their lead 3-0 at 4:48 on a quick transition play.
MacKinnon collected a pass from Cale Makar in the neutral zone and accelerated into the offensive zone. The centerman stickhandled as he chopped his stick over the puck and sent a cross-slot feed to Rodrigues. The winger wasted no time in wiring a high wrist shot past Binnington's blocker.

The tensions continued to rise as the period continued and the Blues were able to generate some momentum and a goal as a byproduct.
After a netfront battle between O'Connor and Binnington occurred, a slew of skaters scrambled behind the net resulting in a pair of penalties handed out to two skaters per team. The Blues received the power play though as O'Connor was assessed with slashing and roughing at 15:13.
On St. Louis' first power play of the game, Krug fired a point shot at Georgiev's far pad. The Avalanche netminder made the stop, but the rebound was finished on the doorstep by Schenn at 16:27 to trim Colorado's lead down 3-1.
St. Louis came out with a desperate effort in the final period of play and outshot the Avalanche 10-5 as they made it a one-goal game, but fortunately Colorado was able to outlast them and even add an empty-net goal to seal the victory.
The Blues made it a one-goal game just under the midway mark in the final frame. The play unfolded on an individual effort as Barbashev intercepted a pass and outmuscled Ben Meyers to try and gain possession of the puck. At the blueline of the Blues' offensive zone, Barbashev beat Brad Hunt on a pinch and beat Georgiev with a shot on the fly at 9:40.
After the Blues had pulled Binnington in exchange for the extra skater, the Avalanche cushioned their lead. With three seconds left in the game, Mikko Rantanen sprung Matt Nieto on a breakaway where he put the puck into the open net, marking his first goal since being traded back to the Avalanche on Jan. 25 and his first goal with the club since Feb. 6, 2020.

NOTEWORTHY:

• Newhook tallied his 12th goal of the season on his 22nd birthday. The winger now has goals in three of his last four games. Newhook has scored on his birthday every year that he's been with the Avalanche.
• Compher buried his 10th goal of the season.
• Rodrigues recorded his 11th goal of this year's campaign.
• Nieto scored his ninth goal of the season and his first goal since being traded back to the Avalanche on Jan. 25 and his first goal with the club since Feb. 6, 2020.
• Georgiev made his 34th start of the season and improved his record to 20-11-3.
• Colorado finished the game 0-for-2 on the power play and 1-for-2 on the penalty kill.
• Darren Helm (lower body) and Nichushkin (upper body) were scratches for the Avalanche.

NEXT GAME:

The Avalanche won't play until after their All-Star break and will resume their season on a three-game road trip with their first stop at Pittsburgh on Feb. 7. The puck drops between the Avs and Pens at 5:00 p.m. MT.