Rob Thomas had a goal and an assist, Jordan Kyrou and Brandon Saad also scored, and the St. Louis Blues beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 in Denver on Monday night.
Jordan Binnington had 45 saves and Pavel Buchnevich added two assists for St. Louis, which has won three straight.
Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist, Artturi Lehkonen also scored, Cale Makar had two assists and Alexandar Georgiev turned away 36 shots for the Avalanche, which had their four-game winning streak snapped.
Rantanen gave Colorado a 1-0 lead when he took a drop pass from MacKinnon, glided to the top of the right circle and beat Binnington with a shot high to the far side at 11:29 of the second period. It was his 11th goal of the season.
The Blues tied it when Buchnevich had the puck near the benches at center ice and slid a backhanded pass to Thomas as he skated through the neutral zone. Thomas’ shot went off the right post, fell into the crease and was knocked in by Georgiev at 13:49.
It was his third of the season.
St. Louis took the lead late in the second period when Saad’s shot from the goal line deflected off Makar’s stick and snuck by Georgiev’s skate that was flush to the post at 18:59.
It was Saad’s third of the season.
Rantanen took an interference minor late in the second and the Blues capitalized when Kyrou scored on an odd-man rush 13 seconds into the third period to make it 3-1. It was his fifth of the season.
The Avalanche got one back on the power play minutes later when Rantanen sent a no-look pass to Lehkonen as he skated into the St. Louis end, and his shot from the left circle beat Binnington to the far post at 3:02.
It was Lehkonen’s fourth of the season.
The Blues took two minor penalties 17 seconds apart to give Colorado a two-man advantage with 1:44 left. Georgiev went off for an extra skater with 54 seconds left but the Avalanche couldn’t score.
–Field Level Media
