Toews scores late to lift Avalanche past Blues

ST. LOUIS -- Devon Toews scored with 2:54 remaining in the third period to help the Colorado Avalanche to a 2-1 win against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Friday.

Toews scored on a slap shot from the left point that deflected off St. Louis defenseman Justin Faulk after a Colorado faceoff win. 

"We kind of said going into it that we've got to win a 1-0, 2-1 game, whatever it may be," Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson said. "We found a way to do it and stuck with it. The game maybe got away a little bit there in the third, got away from the game plan, but then we got back to it and stayed consistent, and things like that will happen. You get bounces at the end of the game and you're still in the game."

Nathan MacKinnon's point streak ended at 19 games, one short of tying Paul Stastny for best in Avalanche history. 

MacKinnon's last game without a point was Nov. 18 against the Dallas Stars; he had 36 points (13 goals, 23 assists) during the streak.

Ryan Johansen had a goal and an assist, and Alexandar Georgiev made 30 saves for the Avalanche (22-11-3), who extended their point streak to four games (3-0-1).

"I like the fact that we got better defensively as the game went on, and Georgiev played the best game I’ve seen him play in a while, especially the first period," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "As the game went on, I thought we really tightened it up on the defensive side of it, took care of the house pretty well too. If they were going to get a scoring chance as the game went on, it was more to the outside."

Robert Thomas scored, and Jordan Binnington made 21 saves for the Blues (18-16-1), who had their three-game winning streak end.

"I'll take that effort every night," St. Louis coach Drew Bannister said. 'I thought we competed and played well. Maybe 10 minutes of the second period that we got away from our game, but I thought we certainly deserved a better result. Our guys competed, they played well. There are sometimes that you're the better team and bounces don't go your way, it just happens. For us, it's just about re-grouping ourselves for tomorrow (at the Pittsburgh Penguins) and getting ready."

Colorado had a goal called back when Manson thought he made it 1-0 at 6:01 of the first. The Blues successfully challenged for goaltender interference by Avalanche forward Kurtis MacDermid.

"I just wasn't sure if it was our own [defenseman] or their player," Binnington said. "Fortunately, it was their guy."

Johansen gave Colorado a 1-0 lead at 15:11 on a rebound from the slot.

“I thought he played great tonight," Bednar said. "He worked hard, he checked hard, he obviously goes to the net on both of those goals. He had a good night. We needed it. We needed a little bit of offense from somebody else in this game, and we got it."

Thomas tied it 1-1 at 16:31, deking to his backhand on a short-handed breakaway after intercepting a pass by MacKinnon at the St. Louis blue line. The short-handed goal was the ninth for the Blues this season, tied for most in the NHL.

"Nothing changed for us really," St. Louis defenseman Colton Parayko said. "I think obviously our forwards did a good job of coming back and helping in support. I know they had their sticks in there quite a bit and interrupted a bit. Everyone just stayed tight on them (top players for Colorado) in the [defensive] zone and things like that. But credit to the forwards for kind of staying tight."

Binnington stopped Cale Makar on a penalty shot at 7:56 after it was ruled that Blues forward Mackenzie MacEachern threw his broken stick at the puck near the blue line.

NOTES: The Colorado franchise point-streak record is held by Mats Sundin, who posted a 30-game stretch with the Quebec Nordiques in 1992-93. … Avalanche forward Ross Colton was scratched with a lower-body injury and replaced by Ben Meyers, who played 8:11 after being recalled from Colorado Springs of the American Hockey League on Thursday. … Binnington (249 games played) tied Grant Fuhr for fourth-most games played by a goaltender in Blues history. … Thomas played an NHL regular-season career-high 24:09 and has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in his past seven games. … Faulk sustained a lower-body injury in the final minute of the third period and will not travel to Pittsburgh while he is evaluated.