Avalanche give Blues first loss after late rally falls short

ST. LOUIS --The Colorado Avalanche handed the St. Louis Blues their first loss of the season with a 4-3 win at Enterprise Center on Thursday.

J.T. Compher scored twice, Cale Makar had a goal and an assist, and Darcy Kuemper made 15 saves for the Avalanche (3-4-0), who had lost four of their previous five games and were playing without forward Mikko Rantanen because of a lower-body injury.
"I think first off, we played fast and kept the pressure on them forecheck-wise," Compher said. "We were physical and made them make plays under pressure."

Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and an assist, and Jordan Binnington made 38 saves for the Blues (5-1-0), who were playing without captain Ryan O'Reilly because of COVID-19 protocol.
"They're a good team over there. They play fast. We knew that," St. Louis forward Brayden Schenn said. "I don't think we had skating legs tonight, I don't think we moved our feet enough and the result was for us to play probably way too much in our own end."
Colton Parayko gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 9:21 of the first when his slap shot from the right point trickled five-hole on Kuemper.
Compher tied it 1-1 at 18:12, redirecting Ryan Murray's point shot from the high slot past Binnington. He then gave Colorado a 2-1 lead with power-play goal at 11:33 of the second period.
Nazem Kadri extended the lead to 3-1 at 14:40 when he scored glove side on a rush following a turnover by Jake Neighbours at the Avalanche blue line.
"They're a very good team, they're hard to play against, and if we want to consistently beat them and compete with them, we have to play for 60 minutes," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "We only played for 20 tonight."

Schenn cut it to 3-2 at 4:13 of the third with a one-timer off a spinning, no-look backhand pass from Jordan Kyrou.
However, Makar scored 38 seconds later to make it 4-2 after Blues defenseman Marco Scandella's attempt to clear the puck off the glass was intercepted by Nathan MacKinnon, who then found Makar skating into the slot.
"He's playing better," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said of Makar. "Tonight, he was on it right away. He played more physical and with more assertiveness. He was better with the puck. He ends up scoring. He keeps shooting and eventually one goes in for him. He's making better decisions tonight."
Tarasenko got the Blues back to within 4-3 at 16:01, beating Kuemper glove side on a wrist shot from the high slot after taking a pass from Robert Thomas at the blue line.
Thomas then nearly tied it with 53 seconds remaining and Binnington pulled for the extra attacker, but his redirection went just wide of the post.
"Yeah, it is. It's obviously difficult," Parayko said. "That was a good goal by 'Schenner' and gave us a little momentum. I think that's where on us, we've got to continue to bring that momentum and stick with momentum. Obviously, when they get one, it kind of brings it down a little bit. But I got to say, we battled back again and we gave ourselves another chance. Credit to us for that, but at the end of the day, not good enough."
Colorado, which outshot St. Louis 42-18, felt it had a decided territorial edge the entire game.
"It's an excellent, great road game," Kadri said. "We came out with a great start. I don't think we let off the gas throughout the whole game. They pushed back a couple of times with some timely goals, but we responded well. That's good to see from a mature group."
NOTES: Makar's goal was his 100th NHL point (22 goals, 78 assists) in 108 games, tying Sergei Zubov as the sixth-fastest defenseman to reach the mark, behind Harry Cameron (88), Mark Howe (94), Brian Leetch (102), Larry Murphy (105) and Phil Housley (106). ... MacKinnon extended his point streak to five games (one goal, six assists). ... Bednar said Rantanen is day to day. ... Tarasenko has eight points (four goals, four assists) in a five-game point streak. ... With an assist on Tarasenko's goal, Blues forward Ivan Barbashev extended his NHL career-high point streak to six games (three goals, three assists). … Thursday was the first game O'Reilly has missed for the Blues since being acquired in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres on July 1, 2018.