Blues win, tie Predators in Central
The official game recap St. Louis Blues vs Colorado Avalanche.
Patrik Berglund scored twice and the St. Louis Blues moved into a third-place tie in the Central Division with a 4-2 victory against the Colorado Avalanche at Pepsi Center on Tuesday.
Magnus Paajarvi and Jaden Schwartz also scored and Jake Allen made 26 saves for the Blues (39-28-5), who tied the Nashville Predators with their eighth win in the past nine games.
Blues center Paul Stastny missed the final two periods after taking a first-period Vladimir Tarasenko shot on the foot. He played six shifts.
Mark Barberio and John Mitchell scored for the Avalanche (20-49-3), who have lost three consecutive games.
Paajarvi tipped Ivan Barbashev shot past goalie Calvin Pickard at 5:05 of the third period for his sixth goal to put the Blues ahead 2-1. Schwartz knocked in his own rebound at 8:44 to make it 3-1 with his 15th goal.
Berglund scored his second goal of the game and 21st of the season into an empty net with 48 seconds left.
The Avalanche closed to 3-2 when Barberio beat Allen from the lower left circle at 14:50 for his second goal.
The Blues tied the game 1-1 on Berglund's 20th goal at 16:50 0f the second period. The Blues won a battle for the puck in the left corner and Zach Sanford made a touch pass to Berglund in the slot for a point-blank shot behind Pickard.
Pickard stopped Schwartz on a shorthanded breakaway at 18:54.
Mitchell gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 5:32 of the first period. He moved around Blues defenseman Colton Parayko above the right circle and snapped a shot through traffic and over Allen's shoulder for his third goal, first in 19 games.
Allen made a big stop against Matt Nieto at 3:58. Matt Duchene carried the puck on a 2-on-1 rush and passed to Nieto cutting to the net for a backhand that Allen gloved.
-- by Rick Sadowski for NHL.com --
Eurolanche.com, Worldwide, eurolanche@eurolanche.com
22/03/2017 - 06:00
