Newly acquired Devan Dubnyk made 31 saves as the visiting Colorado Avalanche held off the St. Louis Blues 4-3 Wednesday night.
Dubnyk, who arrived from the San Jose Sharks in a Saturday trade, stepped up in his team debut with No. 1 Avalanche goaltender Philipp Grubauer sidelined due to COVID-19 protocol.
Mikko Rantanen and J.T. Compher had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche, who are 17-1-2 in their past 20 games. Brandon Saad and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare also scored and Liam O’Brien recorded two assists.
Mike Hoffman had two goals and an assist for the Blues, who had their three-game winning streak snapped. Vince Dunn also scored and Jordan Binnington stopped 24 of 28 shots.
The West Division-leading Avalanche are 4-1-0 against the fourth-place Blues this season.
Related: NHL games today – 2022 NHL offseason calendar, NHL Draft, free agency
Bellemare put the Avalanche up 1-0 midway through the first period. O’Brien dropped the puck to Bellemare at the right dot for a one-timer past Binnington’s glove.
The Blues tied the game on the power-play with 4:40 left in the period. Dunn broke from the point to the slot to redirect Tyler Bozak’s slap pass past Dubnyk.
The Avalanche pinned the Blues in their own zone to start the second period. That pressure paid off when O’Brien deflected a shot off the inside of the left post, then Compher reached in behind Binnington to tap in the loose the puck at 2:52.
Just 2:25 later, Rantanen pushed the lead to 3-1 with a power-play goal. He hammered a one-time shot through Gabriel Landeskog’s screen as the Avalanche seized control of the game.
The Avalanche made it 4-1 when Tyson Jost circled the net and found Saad cutting unattended into the slot at 11:17 of the middle period.
Related: NHL trade rumors – Latest buzz for 2022 trade deadline day
The Blues cut the deficit to 4-2 at 5:55 of the third period when Hoffman banked the puck off Dubnyk’s back and into the net.
Hoffman pulled the Blues within a goal by scoring on the power play with a one-time blast from the right dot with 3:16 to play. The Blues applied steady pressure after pulling Binnington for an extra attacker, but they failed to tie the game.
–Field Level Media