Rantanen Scores Hat Trick as Avs Show 'No Quit' In OT Win over Blues

No quit.
The Colorado Avalanche defeated the St. Louis Blues 3-2 in overtime on Sunday night at Enterprise Center, which snapped a four-game winless stretch (0-3-1) for the Avalanche.Colorado is now 14-10-2 on the season.

For the Avalanche, Mikko Rantanen scored a hat trick, including the overtime winner. Seven different skaters recorded a point. Winger Artturi Lehkonen returned to the lineup after being sidelined for three games due to injury. In net, Pavel Francouz made 30 saves on 32 shots.
For the Blues, Vladimir Tarasenko scored on the power play, while Brandon Saad scored a late shorthanded goal. In between the pipes, Jordan Binnington made 28 saves on 31 shots.

GAME SUMMARY:

The thrilling matinee clash between the Division rivals - who the Avalanche defeated in Game 6 of the Second Round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs en route to winning the Stanley Cup - featured a back-and-forth see-saw late in the game which forced overtime.
The game was tied 1-1 late in the third period and the Avalanche had the opportunity to secure two points as they were awarded a power play late in regulation with the score tied 1-1 as Brayden Schenn went to the box for interference at 17:18.
A miscommunication on Colorado's power play on a passing sequence resulted in a turnover in which the Blues countered with a former Avalanche winger charged to the net and slipped a low pass past Francouz at 18:24.
Despite giving up a deflating goal and being down 2-1 with less than 90 seconds left in the game, the Avalanche didn't give up.
Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar called a timeout and when play resumed, the Avalanche pulled Francouz in exchange for the extra skater. Cale Makar fired a shot from distance on net. At the net front, the puck deflected off J.T. Compher and fell behind Binnginton. From the other side of the net, Rantanen swept his stick to cross the puck over the goal line for the late 2-2 equalizer and to force overtime.

In the extra period, Colorado scored 29 seconds into play on a quick transition play. Valeri Nichushkin dropped a pass to Makar, who fired a shot from atop the right faceoff circle on net. Rantanen curled into the crease and tucked the puck across the goal line to secure the two-point victory for the Avalanche in their "no quit" performance as Rantanen described it postgame.

Earlier in regulation, Avalanche and Blues skated out to a fairly even opening period as the score remained 0-0 heading into first intermission. Both sides received power plays, but neither were able to convert.
St. Louis even had a two-man advantage for 35 seconds as Alex Newhook was called for holding at 7:08 and Devon Toews joined him in the penalty box at 8:35 for delay of game penalty. But the Avalanche came up with a strong showing on the PK to hold off the Blues.
After being outshot 7-1 through eight minutes into the second period - and after failing to convert on a power play opportunity at 7:37 - Colorado weathered the Blues' push and capitalized with the game's icebreaker on a quick transition play at 10:58.

Brad Hunt sent a pass to Alex Newhook in the neural zone, who threaded it across the zone to Rantanen. The Finnish winger skated into open space into the right faceoff circle and wired a low wrist shot past Binnginton's glove to give Colorado a 1-0 lead.
St. Louis made things interesting just over midway in the third period as they tied the score up 1-1 on a power-play goal. Cale Makar was sent to the box for a double minor after high-sticking Jordan Kyrou at 7:52. Nine seconds into the Blues' extended power play, they executed a quick passing sequence from Robert Thomas to former Avalanche and current St. Louis captain Ryan O'Reilly, who fed Tarasenko on the doorstep. The winger roofed his shot from the goal line over Francouz at 8:01.

NOTEWORTHY:

• Rantanen buried his team-leading 17th, 18th and 19th goals of the season and now has goals in consecutive games. With the three-goal performance, Rantanen overtook the team lead in scoring with 36 points (19G, 17A).
• Lehkonen returned to the lineup after missing three games due to an upper-body injury. The winger skated alongside Mikko Rantanen and Valeri Nichushkin and logged 20:20 minutes, including 5:01 on the power play and 2:17 on the penalty kill. Lehkonen fired one shot, threw one shot and blocked two shots.
• With an assist on Rantanen's goal, Brad Hunt recorded his first point as a member of the Avalanche.
• Francouz made his eighth start of the season, improving his record to 3-5-0.
• Colorado finished the game 0-for-3 on the power play and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill.
• The Avalanche wore their Reverse Retro uniforms for the second time this season and are now (2-0-0) in them. Colorado will wear them two more times on Dec. 29 against Los Angeles and on Jan. 2 against Vegas.
• Nathan MacKinnon (upper body) and Evan Rodrigues (lower body) were all scratches for the Avalanche.

NEXT GAME:

The Avalanche return to Denver for a five-game homestand as they host Philadelphia on Tuesday night at Ball Arena. The puck drops between the Avs and Flyers at 7 p.m. MT.