While the Colorado Avalanche continue to surge, the St. Louis Blues are sliding at the wrong time.
One night after handing the visiting Blues their fifth straight defeat, the Avalanche look to extend their point streak to 14 games on Saturday night in Denver.
Colorado pulled two points ahead of Vegas for the lead in the West Division with its third consecutive victory, 3-2 over St. Louis on Friday. Nathan MacKinnon scored twice, Gabriel Landeskog recorded two assists and six other players posted at least one point for the Avalanche, who are amid an 11-0-2 stretch overall — third-longest run without a regulation loss in club history — and 10-0-1 in their past 11 at home.
“Important two points for us,” Landeskog told Altitude TV.
“Our depth is going to be our strength going down the stretch here and going into the playoff. Every single line can play and it doesn’t matter the score of the game. It’s a good team effort.”
With two power-play goals on Friday, Colorado is and impressive 8 of 17 on the man-advantage while winning two of three against the Blues this season.
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David Perron posted his team-leading 13th goal of the season and also had an assist on Friday for the Blues, who are in the mix for the fourth and final playoff spot in the West, but mired in an 0-4-1 stretch. They’re 2-6-4 following a four-game winning streak from Feb. 27-March 5.
“We’ve got to work, we’ve got to work, we’ve got to work,” Perron simply said. “I think we can do that more.
“We’re playing (for) our lives right now. We’ve got to find a way.”
Jordan Binnington stopped 36 shots on Friday while dropping his fifth consecutive start. Binnington is 1-2-0 with a 3.03 goals-against average versus Colorado this season, however, backup Ville Husso, 6-3-1 with a 3.40 GAA, could get the start in this back-to-back scenario. Husso allowed four goals on 14 shots in relief of Binnington in an 8-0 loss at Colorado on Jan. 15.
Jonas Johansson made 25 saves on Friday to record his first win of the season in his second start since Colorado acquired him from Buffalo on March 21, but Philipp Grubauer is likely to be in goal for this contest. Grubauer, who recorded 12 of his 22 wins this season in March, leads the NHL with a 1.78 goals-against average. He’s been absolutely stellar while posting a 1.21 GAA and .948 save percentage during his current 10-0-1 stretch.
He has a 2.02 GAA while going 1-1-0 versus St. Louis this season.
MacKinnon has scored half of his 12 goals this season over his past 10 home contests. He has three goals, with two assists, in the past two games versus St. Louis. Landeskog has 10 assists and 16 points over his past nine home games.
Perron has three points in the Blues’ past two games after totaling four over the previous seven contests.
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–Field Level Media