Rapid Recap: Avalanche 5, Blues 3

Five different players for the Colorado Avalanche tallied in its 5-3 win against the St. Louis Blues at Pepsi Center on Saturday afternoon.
Nathan MacKinnon scored on the first shot of the game, the second straight outing the Avs have scored on their inital shot, and Gabriel Landeskog scored into an empty net with 1.8 seconds remaining to seal the win.
Cale Makar and Andre Burakovsky fouod the back of the net 22 seconds apart in the second period before Jake Allen replacing Jordan Binnington in the Blues' net. It was Makar's 11th goal of the year, setting a new single-season franchise record for tallies by a rookie defenseman.
Tyson Jost also scored for Colorado while MacKinnon (one goal, one assist), Burakovsky (one goal, one assist) and Ian Cole (two assists) all registered multiple points.
David Perron, Oskar Sundqvist and Alex Pietrangelo tallied for St. Louis. Zach Sanford and Ryan O'Reilly also added two helpers apiece.

The Avs and Blues wrap up their five-game series at Pepsi Center in the regular-season finale on April 4.
Statistics
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Photo Gallery
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Highlights
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Notes & Quotes

THE GOALS

1st Period
3:41 COL (1-0) - Samuel Girard intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and then set up Nathan MacKinnon, who finished the play to record his 28th goal of the season.
18:04 STL (1-1) - PPG, David Perron scored on a wrist shot from the right circle while on the power play.
2nd Period
1:06 STL (1-2) - Ryan O'Reilly sent a backhand pass to Oskar Sundqvist, who scored to give the Blues the lead.
7:48 COL (2-2) - Tyson Jost collected a rebound from an Andre Burakovsky shot and knocked in the puck to tie the game.
16:26 COL (3-2) Cale Makar skated around the blue line and shot from the top of the right circle while Mikko Rantanen was screening goalie Jordan Binnington.
16:48 COL (4-2) - Andre Burakovsky skated into the zone and shot from the right faceoff dot to beat Binnington glove-side.
3rd Period
7:23 STL (4-3) - Alex Pietrangelo cut St. Louis' deficit in half after David Perron fed him the puck.
19:58 COL (5-3) - ENG, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare skated the puck into the neutral zone and Gabriel Landeskog scored into an empty net.
Final:Avalanche - 5 | Blues - 3

3 STARS

Selected by Colorado Hockey Coach of the Game: Viacheslav Goev (Aspen Jr. Leafs)

POWER PLAYS

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

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Philipp Grubauer made 21 saves on 24 shots
St. Louis: Jordan Binnington started the game and allowed four goals on 11 shots. Jake Allen came in with 3:12 remaining in the second and stopped all six shots he faced.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

Hitting 70: Nathan MacKinnon recorded a goal and an assist to reach 70 points (28 goals, 42 assists) this year, becoming the third NHL player to reach 70 this season (Connor McDavid 74, Leon Draisaitl 73). He hit the mark in 48 games for the second straight year. The only Avalanche player to reach 70 points faster was Mikko Rantanen, who hit the mark in his 47th contest last year.
NOTEBOOK
Cale Makar scored his 11th goal of the campaign to set a new single-season franchise record for tallies by a rookie defenseman. It was previously held by John-Michael Liles, who had 10 in 2003-04... Andre Burakovsky assisted on Tyson Jost's tally to record the 100th helper of his career... Burakovsky also registered a goal, which stood as the game-winner and is his fourth game-winning tally of the season, tied for the team lead... Makar and Burakovsky scored 22 seconds apart in the second period... Samuel Girard recorded an assist and has now tallied 10 helpers since the calendar turned to Jan. 1, tied for the most in the league over that span (Washington's John Carlson)... Ian Cole recorded two assists, matching his career high and registering his fourth multi-point game of the year... Pierre-Edouard Bellemare tallied his 11th assist of the season to set a new single-season career high, surpassing his previous best of 10 during the 2017-18 campaign with Vegas... For the second straight contest, the Avalanche scored on its first shot of the game... The Avs are 3-0-0 in day games this year, outscoring the opposition 16-6... The Avalanche is 2-0-2 on its current five-game homestand... Colorado is now 2-0-2 against St. Louis this year, including a 2-0-0 mark at Pepsi Center. The Avs and Blues wrap up the series at Pepsi Center in the regular-season finale on April 4.

QUOTABLE

Defenseman Cale Makar on the team's confidence: "Everybody's playing their game. I think we are just playing confident as a team right now. It's just got to be something that we have to continue. It's awesome that we're going to be able to do this going into the break here. Obviously, we have one more game to do it, but no, it's been good so far."

BIG HIGHLIGHT

IMAGE OF THE GAME

A pumped Burky.

ROSTER REPORT

The Avalanche used the same roster as it did on Thursday against the San Jose Sharks… Philipp Grubauer made his third consecutive start in net.

INJURY UPDATE

Joonas Donskoi (concussion protocol) missed his fourth consecutive game but had been on the skating with the team for the previous five days in a non-contact jersey… Colin Wilson (lower body) remains out indefinitely.

UP NEXT

Colorado wraps up its season-long, five-game stay at Pepsi Center with another afternoon game on Monday against the Detroit Red Wings for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It is the final game before the All-Star Break and bye week for the Avalanche.

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on start of the game
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
13 Valeri Nichushkin - 91 Nazem Kadri - 95 Andre Burakovsky
11 Matt Calvert - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 37 J.T. Compher
83 Matt Nieto - 17 Tyson Jost - 81 Vladislav Kamenev
Defensemen
27 Ryan Graves - 8 Cale Makar
49 Samuel Girard - 6 Erik Johnson
16 Nikita Zadorov - 28 Ian Cole
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer
39 Pavel Francouz