Perron scores hat trick, Blues end Avalanche's nine-game point streak

ST. LOUIS -- David Perron scored a hat trick, and the St. Louis Blues ended the Colorado Avalanche's nine-game point streak with a 5-2 win at Enterprise Center on Monday.

Vince Dunn and Jordan Kyrou scored, and Jordan Binnington made 26 saves for St. Louis (21-8-6), which has won three in a row and is 7-3-0 in its past 10 games. Ryan O'Reilly and Oskar Sundqvist each had two assists.
"I thought we played a pretty solid game," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "That's a tough team, man. They're fast. They've got a lot of speed, and I thought our guys did a real good job tonight."
WATCH: [All Avalanche vs. Blues highlights]
Nazem Kadri and Mikko Rantanen scored, and Philipp Grubauer made 31 saves after missing three games with a lower-body injury for Colorado (21-9-3), which was 8-0-1 in its previous nine games and hadn't lost in regulation since Nov. 23.
The Avalanche, who outscored their opponents 36-17 during the streak, allowed two power-play goals in 36 seconds late in the second period after Kadri received a double minor for high-sticking Colton Parayko.

"They controlled the whole first period for me," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said of St. Louis. "Then, actually I kind of felt like we controlled the second until that double minor. We were playing good. We came back, built the lead, and then the double minor, they made some plays and caught us on the penalty kill for two (goals), and I thought they dominated the third. Just a better performance by them. We just weren't good enough, you know … they dominated. They deserved to win, no question."
The Blues ended an 0-for-15 slump on the power play when Perron scored his second of the game from the left face-off circle at 18:47 of the second period before Dunn scored at 19:23 to give St. Louis a 3-2 lead.

"That just carries over to the third period for us," Dunn said. "When the power-play is at least doing the right things and getting shots to the net, that sets up the next line that's coming out. As much as possible we want to score, but most importantly, we want to create momentum and I think we did a great job for our team in that second period leading into the third."
Kadri scored 55 seconds into the second to tie it 1-1 on a one-timer from the slot, and Rantanen's power-play goal from the right circle, a one-timer over Binnington's right shoulder, gave the Avalanche a 2-1 lead at 9:35.

Kyrou scored his second NHL goal at 11:24 of the third period on a wraparound to give the Blues a 4-2 lead.
Perron made it 1-0 at 18:51 of the first period on a one-timer from the bottom of the left circle. He completed his fifth NHL hat trick with an empty-net goal at 16:05 of the third for the 5-2 final.

They said it

"Second period, we were really good. They didn't have much in the second until the two power plays, and they capitalized. The third wasn't good enough. We were pushing from 3-2 behind and we tried to get a goal, but we gave up chance after chance. Not good enough in the third." -- Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen
"I don't think [the hat trick] is something I'm thinking too much about right now, but all these things, I think you realize more when you're done playing. But it's always nice." -- Blues forward David Perron

Need to know

The Blues have won six straight against the Avalanche. … Colorado is 0-8-1 when trailing entering the third period; St. Louis is 12-0-4 when leading entering the third. ... Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon had an assist to extend his point streak to five games (two goals, five assists). ... Perron leads the Blues with 15 goals. … O'Reilly won 19 of 28 face-offs and was plus-2. ... Blues forward Robert Thomas played in his 100th NHL game. ... St. Louis forward Zach Sanford (upper-body injury) returned after missing the previous three games; he replaced forward Ivan Barbashev (upper body), who is day to day.

What's next

Avalanche:At the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TVAS)
Blues: Host the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday (8:30 p.m. ET; SN, FS-MW, NHL.TV)