Jake Allen, Blues end five-game losing streak

DENVER -- Jake Allen made 27 saves to help the St. Louis Blues defeat the Colorado Avalanche 3-0 at Pepsi Center on Sunday.
The shutout was Allen's third of the season and his 14th in the NHL.
"I felt good out there," said Allen, who lost his previous four starts. "We didn't give much and I played solid."
Allen was shaken with 3:08 left in regulation when he was hit in the throat with a shot and needed aid from the training staff.

"I couldn't breathe," he said. "It zapped me. My throat's still killing me. It's tough to talk."
WATCH: All Blues vs. Avalanche highlights
Paul Stastny, Kyle Brodziak and Patrick Berglund scored for the Blues (32-27-5), who ended a five-game losing streak and moved one point ahead of the Los Angeles Kings for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
The Avalanche (17-44-3) have lost four consecutive games, and are 1-6-1 in their past eight and 8-21-2 at home. They've been shut out 11 times.
"Painful, there's no other way to describe it," said Matt Duchene, who has one goal in the past 21 games. "It's not fun. I wish I had an answer for you, man, I wish I did. It's hard to even get good shots on net. We just don't execute enough when we have opportunities, to strike and make things happen. We don't get good looks."
Berglund scored a power-play goal at 10:11 of the second period to give the Blues a 3-0 lead with Blake Comeau serving an interference penalty. He accepted Colton Parayko's pass and beat Jeremy Smith for his 18th goal.
The Blues took a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Stastny and Brodziak that came 1:37 apart.

"We knew we wanted to get off to a good start seeing that they played last night and for our own sake," Blues coach Mike Yeo said. "After we scored the second goal in the first period we kind of backed off a little bit, so we've got to get better with that."
Stastny scored a power-play goal into an open net at 3:56 off a pass from Jaden Schwartz with Rene Bourque off for holding. The goal was Stastny's 17th of the season and first in 11 games against the Avalanche, for whom he played his first eight NHL seasons.
"I've thought about it a few times," Stastny said. "A nice little tap-in from my teammate there, so that was nice. More importantly, it was nice for us to get the lead and play with the lead."
Brodziak knocked in a loose puck from in front for his eighth goal at 5:33. Ryan Reaves got his stick on the puck after a turnover by Avalanche defenseman Fedor Tyutin behind the net.
"It was a faceoff loss by me and my two wingers (Reaves and Scottie Upshall) did a great job jumping, creating a turnover and the puck just bounced right in front of the net," Brodziak said. "It was a good bounce, but we'll take it. It's definitely nice if our line can pitch in every now and again."

Goal of the game

Stastny's goal came with his wife and 18-month-old daughter in full view sitting in the first row
"It was fun, that was special," he said. "You don't write it up like that. That was one of those things, you look down the road and it will be something special that you never plan. They've gone to a few games, once a year sitting there. I've been robbed a few times from that spot as well, so it was nice to score."

Save of the game

Smith deflected Upshall's shot on a breakaway at 5:14 of the second period.

Highlight of the game

Parayko was in perfect position to intercept Gabriel Landeskog's attempted clearing pass before feeding Berglund for his power-play goal.

Unsung performance of the game

Blues defenseman Magnus Paajarvi blocked three shots in 11:44 of ice time.

They said it

"The game was pretty much what we expected as coaches. We were nervous about this game. There's still an awful lot of skill on that side. I don't think they're playing for a whole lot other than pride right now and that's dangerous when you're playing against teams like that." -- Blues coach Mike Yeo on playing the struggling Avalanche
"It's really tough getting motivated as a group to compete at the level we need to every night." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar

Need to know

St. Louis defenseman Jordan Schmaltz made his NHL debut, played 15:07 and was plus-1. He was the Blues' first-round pick (No. 25) in 2012 ... Schwartz played his 300th NHL game ... After being issued his U.S. visa, Avalanche forward Sven Andrighetto played his first game since being acquired Wednesday in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens. He had two shots and was minus-1 in 15:19 of ice time.

What's next

Blues: At the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; FS-N, FS-WI, FS-MW, NHL.TV.
Avalanche: Host the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET; ALT, FS-CR, NHL.TV)