Rapid Recap: Blues 4, Avalanche 1

The Colorado Avalanche wrapped up its season series against the St. Louis Blues with a 4-1 loss at Enterprise Center on Monday.
Vladimir Tarasenko and Brayden Schenn scored in the first period for the Blues before David Perron extended St. Louis' lead to 3-0 in the middle frame.
Nathan MacKinnon scored for Colorado to cut the deficit to 3-1, but Robert Thomas scored two and a half minutes later to regain the Blues' three-goal lead. MacKinnon's goal extended his point streak to 14 games, tying his career long and matching the longest in the NHL this season.

MacKinnon's tally came on the power play, the sixth straight outing that the Avalanche has scored on the man advantage.
Colorado and St. Louis concluded their eight-game season series. The Avs finished the annual set with a 5-3-0 mark.

THE GOALS

1st Period
9:25 STL (0-1) - PPG, The rebound of Torey Krug's shot bounced to Vladimir Tarasenko, who scored on the power play.
13:34 STL (0-2) - Ryan O'Reilly found Brayden Schenn in the left circle and he tallied on a one-timer.
2nd Period
7:02 STL (0-3) - David Perron deflected a Justin Faulk shot from the point and scored five-hole.
8:24 COL (1-3) - PPG, Nathan MacKinnon took a cross-crease pass from Gabriel Landeskog and buried a shot top shelf.
10:53 STL (1-4) - Robert Thomas dragged the puck into the slot from the right circle and scored far-side.
3rd Period
No Scoring
Final: Blues - 4 | Avalanche - 1

3 STARS

Selected by St. Louis media

POWER PLAYS

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

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Jonas Johansson made his fifth start with Colorado and had 16 saves.
St. Louis: Jordan Binnington stopped 31-of-32 shots.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

Nathan MacKinnon scored in the second period to extend his point streak to 14 games, tying his career long that he set from Feb. 24-March 22, 2018 and matched during the 2020 playoffs (Aug. 2-Sept. 2, 2020). His run is tied for the longest in the NHL this season, as the Carolina Hurricanes' Dougie Hamilton also recorded a point in 14 consecutive contests.

NOTEBOOK

Andre Burakovsky and Gabriel Landeskog both assisted on Nathan MacKinnon's tally to extend their respective point streaks to three games. Burakovsky has five points (two goals, three assists) in that span, and Landeskog has four points (one goal, three assists)… Colorado scored a power-play goal for the sixth-straight contest. The Avalanche went13-for-38 on the man advantage in eight games against the Blues this season... The Avalanche finished the outing with 36 hits, a season high for the team... The game was the finale of four straight in St. Louis, the first time Colorado/Quebec has ever played four consecutive road games against the same opponent... The Avs finished their season series with a 5-3-0 mark against the Blues, their most wins ever against St. Louis in a single season.

BIG HIGHLIGHT

IMAGE OF THE GAME

Eyes on the puck.

ROSTER REPORT

Jonas Johansson made his fifth start of the season with Colorado, his first appearance since April 11. Carl Soderberg was on a trio with Tyson Jost and Valeri Nichushkin, while Nazem Kadri centered a line with J.T. Compher and Martin Kaut. On the fourth line, Kiefer Sherwood returned to the lineup, his first game with the Avs since April 2, and he skated with Liam O'Brien and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare. The combination of Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Andre Burakovsky as well as all three defensive pairings remained the same.

INJURY UPDATE

Brandon Saad missed his first game of the year due to injury and will be out two-to-four weeks with a lower-body injury. Defenseman Jacob MacDonald is also week-to-week with a lower-body injury he suffered during at-home workouts while the team was paused from action from April 16-21. Matt Calvert remains week-to-week as well with his upper-body injury. Logan O'Connor is close to returning from his lower-body injury, while Mikko Rantanen has resumed skating since going through the NHL's COVID protocol. Philipp Grubauer can get back on the ice on Tuesday and Joonas Donskoi can do the same on Thursday, as both players are making steps to return to game action after being in COVID protocol. Bowen Byram was removed from the league's protocol last week but is working on getting his conditioning back as he hasn't played since suffering an upper-body injury on March 25 against the Vegas Golden Knights. Pavel Francouz (lower body) is out for the remainder of the season while Erik Johnson (upper body) could return later in the postseason.

UP NEXT

Colorado wraps up its four-game road trip on Wednesday at the Vegas Golden Knights.

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on start of the game
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 95 Andre Burakovsky
34 Carl Soderberg - 17 Tyson Jost - 13 Valeri Nichushkin
37 J.T. Compher - 91 Nazem Kadri - 61 Martin Kaut
38 Liam O'Brien - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 44 Kiefer Sherwood
Defensemen
49 Samuel Girard - 7 Devon Toews
27 Ryan Graves - 8 Cale Makar
24 Patrik Nemeth - 22 Conor Timmins
Goaltenders
35 Jonas Johansson
40 Devan Dubnyk