Parayko, Blues end Avalanche winning streak at six

DENVER --Colton Parayko scored at 1:34 of overtime to give the St. Louis Blues a 3-2 win against the Colorado Avalanche at Pepsi Center on Friday, ending the Avalanche's winning streak at six games.

The 6-foot-6 Parayko skated by 5-foot-10 Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard, moved in on Semyon Varlamov and had one arm on his stick when he chipped the puck by Varlamov's blocker.
"It was 1-on-1 and I hesitated a little bit, but then I saw an opening so I thought I'd take it," said Parayko, who skated from his own end. "It was a good opportunity to try to take some ice. Kept pushing the puck forward."
WATCH: [All Blues vs. Avalanche highlights]
Vladimir Tarasenko and Alexander Steen scored, and Jake Allen made 27 saves for the Blues (9-12-3), who lost five of their previous six games.
"Obviously we're very happy," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "The boys are excited, they played a really solid hockey game and they deserved to win. It's great we got it. We beat a really good hockey team."

Allen stopped three breakaways and made a difficult save against Colin Wilson at 12:16 of the third period that left the Avalanche forward shaking his head.
"It was a good game, that was hockey," Allen said. "Two hard-playing teams going at it. We're desperate and they're on a roll. We're trying to climb our way back and they're trying to stay on top, and it's a fun, entertaining game."
Mikko Rantanen and Nikita Zadorov scored, and Varlamov made 34 saves for the Avalanche (15-6-5), who are 8-0-2 in their past 10 games.
"It's a big point, it's an important point," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "We would've liked to have two, but sometimes that's the way it goes."

The Blues took a 2-0 lead in the first period.
Tarasenko beat Varlamov with a shot between his pads at 4:57 for a 1-0 lead after Allen stopped Vladislav Kamenev on a breakaway late in an Avalanche power play.
Steen scored a power-play goal to make it 2-0 with 31 seconds left. He slid a loose puck around Kamenev in the slot and beat Varlamov blocker side.

The Avalanche cut it to 2-1 at 1:08 of the second period when Zadorov scored from inside the blue line with a shot through a crowd.
The Avalanche tied 2-2 at 2:13 of the third period on Rantanen's power-play goal from a goalmouth scramble.
Colorado defenseman Erik Johnson was assessed a major elbowing penalty and a game misconduct at 3:38 of the second period for a hit against Steen, but the Avalanche killed the penalty. Steen sustained an upper-body injury.
Varlamov forced Oskar Sundqvist wide on a penalty shot at 12:37 of the second.
"For sure in the second period they were coming at us," Bednar said. "We didn't manage the puck very well without [Johnson] back there. It was just average. But third period we found a way to start pouring it on. I felt a couple guys who were missing for the first couple of periods started to play in the third and then we got going.
"I really liked the way our team responded in the third. We find ourselves in a two-hole deficit and we were able to come and dig our way out of that and get it to overtime."

They said it

"All the meetings and work finally paid off. We talk about it a lot, have a strong locker room and talk after every loss. We need to keep this atmosphere for the next game." -- Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko

"He's a special player and you have to be aware when he's on the ice. He's having another career year. I thought we did a pretty good job tonight with him, directing to the outside a little bit. If you're not on your toes he can make you look silly, but we did a good job tonight." -- Blues goalie Jake Allen, on holding Nathan MacKinnon without a point
"That was a [heck] of a comeback. When we're down 2-0 we came back and tied the game and had a chance to win the game in the third period. We had some good moments to score the goal, we just couldn't put the puck in the net. Tough loss." -- Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov

Need to know

Berube said Steen and defenseman Alex Pietrangelo (undisclosed injury) would be re-examined Saturday. … Rantanen had his six-game multipoint streak end but has 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) in a seven-game point streak. MacKinnon's multipoint streak also ended at six. … Tarasenko has four points (three goals, one assist) in a four-game point streak. … The Blues are 1-3 in overtime, the Avalanche 1-4. Colorado also has lost its only shootout. … Blues defenseman Robert Bortuzzo returned after missing 14 games with a lower-body injury. He had one shot in 14:31.

What's next

Blues: At the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; FS-A, FS-MW, NHL.TV)
Avalanche:At the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; FS-D, ALT, NHL.TV)