Thomas gets 1st hat trick, lifts Blues past Avalanche

DENVER -- Robert Thomas scored his first NHL hat trick to lift the St. Louis Blues to a 3-2 win against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on Sunday.

Thomas completed the hat trick with 2:50 remaining in the third period. Jimmy Snuggerud skated in on a 2-on-1 rush, toe-dragged a sliding Martin Necas and passed backdoor to Thomas, who buried the puck behind Mackenzie Blackwood.

“It's taken a long time, so it feels good. A little bit of a relief, but yeah, it's been a while,” Thomas said of the hat trick. “Great play by (Snuggerud). It’s a high-end play, and to fake the shot and slide it over, it’s a great play. He made a ton of awesome plays today, and it was a huge reason for our win tonight.”

Said Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon: “It was a tight game. I got to watch that last goal. I don't know why Marty’s playing 'D.' Tough way to lose.”

Snuggerud and Dylan Holloway each had three assists for the Blues (33-31-12), who went 2-1-1 on a four-game road trip and are 6-1-1 in their past eight overall. Joel Hofer made 26 saves.

“That's a really good measuring stick against an elite team like that,” St. Louis coach Jim Montgomery said. “Just the way we kept going to the net hard, the way we played north. We didn't complicate the game for ourselves, and they're good team. They had their opportunities, and it was a great game.”

St. Louis moved three points back of the Nashville Predators for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.

“We don't talk about it, but I think it's human nature. Everybody goes and looks (at the standings),” Montgomery said. “I do my very poor mathematics, and I'm like, 'Well, I don't know. If we win our games we'll get in.’"

Brent Burns had a goal and an assist, and Parker Kelly also scored for the Avalanche (50-16-10), who were coming off a 2-0 win at the Dallas Stars on Saturday. Blackwood made 25 saves.

Colorado remained eight points ahead of Dallas for first place in the Central Division and Western Conference.

“We gave up too many odd-men rushes again. They got three goals off the rush,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “I don't know if we gave up an odd-man rush the entire game last night. We've been talking about it a lot, so we got to make sure that we're committed to it, otherwise you're not going to win.

“It's strictly commitment. It's all it is. Nothing else. Commitment to play the right way.”

Thomas gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead at 12:01 of the first period when he one-timed Snuggerud’s centering pass top shelf past Blackwood's blocker from the high slot. Snuggerud gained possession at the right side of the crease during a scramble for the puck before feeding Thomas.

“He was terrific right from his first shift. He had the puck on the stick,” Montgomery said. “He scored the three goals, but he made about six high-end passes. I'm sitting on the bench and I don't even see the lanes that he sees going full speed. So, he was really good, but he was really good on the PK, too."

Kelly tied it 1-1 at 15:10 of the first with a redirection of Burns’ point shot that ricocheted off the left leg of Blues defenseman Cam Fowler and past the glove of Hofer. The goal was his 20th of the season.

“Things are just going in. I mean, like this one goes off my stick then off their guy. So little bit of luck,” Kelly said. “I'm happy with the year I've been having, but yeah, we still got (six) games here, and we need to get a couple more wins here. That's the priority.”

Burns put Colorado in front 2-1 at 3:40 of the second period, scoring with a wrist shot from the right point that made it through traffic and under Hofer's blocker.

“It's a lot of winning and losing back and forth lately,” MacKinnon said. “It was a tight game. Obviously, back-to-back, but would have been nice just to get a point there, take our chances in OT.”

Thomas responded 29 seconds later to tie it 2-2, taking a pass from Holloway on a rush and scoring glove side from the bottom of the right circle. The play came nine seconds after Hofer stopped MacKinnon on a breakaway.

“We’re having fun as a team. We’re trying to win games and we’re doing our best to possibly do that,” Snuggerud said. “Coming into this building is a tough one, and I thought we rose to the occasion, and we need to do the same thing at home.”

Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin didn’t play because of an upper-body injury. He is day to day.

“He's probably a possibility even for Tuesday. We'll just see how he feels the next couple days. Just that time of year,” Bednar said. “You get some little bumps and bruises. Everybody has them, but sometimes there's something a little bit more significant. I don't want to be playing guys hurt if it can get worse. So, you got to be careful on some of them. That's what we did today with Val.”

NOTES: The two teams will play again in St. Louis on Tuesday. ... Thomas has 10 points (five goals, five assists) on a five-game point streak. ... Holloway has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) on a six-game point streak.