Rapid Recap: Avalanche 2, Blues 1

Cale Makar scored in the final minute of regulation to give the Colorado Avalanche a 2-1 victory against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night at Ball Arena.
Makar recorded his fourth goal of the season with 41 seconds remaining on a shot from the right point and the puck made its way through traffic and hit twine. It was unassisted.

Nathan MacKinnon opened the scoring in the game for the Avalanche at 11:27 of the first frame, tallying for the second straight game. Gabriel Landeskog and Devon Toews added assists on the marker.
Colorado goaltender Philipp Grubauer made 27 saves and has won three contests in a row. Grubauer is 11-0-1 in his last 12 appearances.
Ryan O'Reilly tallied for the Blues and Ville Husso made 32 saves in net.
The Avalanche is now on a 14-game point streak (12-0-2), tied for the second-longest stretch in franchise history.

THE GOALS

1st Period
11:27 COL (1-0) - On a rush up the ice, Nathan MacKinnon took a pass from Gabriel Landeskog and tallied from the right circle.
18:03 STL (1-1) - Ryan O'Reilly scored during a goalmouth scramble seconds after a Blues power play expired.
2nd Period
No Scoring
3rd Period
19:19 COL (2-1) - Cale Makar's shot from the point got through traffic and hit twine in the final minute of regulation.
Final: Avalanche - 2 | Blues - 1

3 STARS

Selected by Colorado Hockey Coach of the Game: Michael Dubus (Castle View High School Hockey)

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 0 for 4
St. Louis: 0 for 3

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Philipp Grubauer made 27-of-28 saves.
St. Louis: Ville Husso stopped 32 shots.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

The Avalanche is on a 14-game point streak (12-0-2), the longest streak in the NHL this season and tied for the second-longest stretch in franchise history (11-0-2-1, Jan. 20-Feb. 20, 2003).

NOTEBOOK

Nathan MacKinnon scored his 203rd career goal to pass Peter Forsberg for the fourth-most in Avalanche history (since 1995-96). Current teammate Gabriel Landeskog is next the list in third place with 212 tallies in a Colorado uniform... The goal extended MacKinnon's point streak to five games (three goals, five assists), while Gabriel Landeskog is on a point streak of four games (three goals, four assists)… Colorado hosted its 10th annual Military Appreciation Night and improved to 8-2-0 in such games... The Avs are now 11-0-1 in their last 12 outings at Ball Arena... Colorado swept its second back-to-back of the season and is now 3-0-3 in the second contest of such sets. The team is 5-1-0 in the first game... The Avs have gained at least a point in all seven Saturday games this year, improving 5-0-2... The team finished its six-game homestand with a 5-0-1 record. The Avs are 3-1-0 this season versus the Blues in the eight-game set.

BIG HIGHLIGHT

IMAGE OF THE GAME

Sweet mask. Sweet sweater.

ROSTER REPORT

Valeri Nichushkin returned to the lineup after being out on Friday with an upper-body injury. He returned to his previous line with Tyson Jost and Joonas Donskoi. J.T. Compher moved from that line back to the fourth trio with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Liam O'Brien. Kiefer Sherwood was scratched after being recalled prior to Friday's game. Sheldon Dries, Keaton Middleton, T.J. Tynan and goalie Adam Werner are on the taxi squad.

INJURY UPDATE

Bowen Byram continues to make progress from his upper-body injury but missed his fifth straight contest. Logan O'Connor will miss a few weeks with a lower-body ailment, while Matt Calvert (upper body) remains week-to-week. Pavel Francouz (lower body) and Erik Johnson (upper body) are out long term.

UP NEXT

The Avs begin a four-game road trip on Monday at the Minnesota Wild. The teams will face off again on Wednesday in St. Paul before Colorado takes on the Anaheim Ducks for two outings on April 9 and 11.

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on the start of the game
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
20 Brandon Saad - 91 Nazem Kadri - 95 Andre Burakovsky
13 Valeri Nichushkin - 17 Tyson Jost - 72 Joonas Donskoi
38 Liam O'Brien - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 37 J.T. Compher
Defensemen
49 Samuel Girard - 7 Devon Toews
27 Ryan Graves - 8 Cale Makar
2 Dan Renouf - 34 Jacob MacDonald
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer
35 Jonas Johansson