St. Louis – When veteran winger Mike Keane played with the Avalanche, he never would talk about the team’s penalty killing when it was on a hot streak. A sure jinx, Keane said.
The Avs had killed 23-of-24 power plays entering Wednesday’s game against Dallas, and some players talked publicly about how good they were doing, how a change in tactics was paying off nicely. The Avs have allowed eight power-play goals in 16 chances since.
Poor penalty killing contributed to the Avs dropping another game to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night, 2-0 at Scottrade Center. Power-play goals in the first two periods helped send the Avs to their third straight loss.
“The three losses, the differential is what we’re giving up on our penalty killing,” Avs coach Joel Quenneville said. “We had a great stretch, but right now, you look back and it’s all kinds of goals going in. It’s an area we felt had to get better along the way, had a stretch where it was effective and right now it’s a sore spot again.”
Not much has gone right for the Avs since the start of the third period Wednesday against the Stars. They have scored two goals in those seven periods, allowing eight. A win that night over Dallas would have put them four games over .500 with back-to-back games next against the last-place team in the Western Conference.
Now the Avs are 18-18-2, in last place in the Northwest Division, with 26-10-3 Nashville next on the docket, Monday at the Gaylord Entertainment Center.
“I thought we played pretty hard (Friday) and again today, but we just can’t find a way to score on Manny (Legace),” Avs captain Joe Sakic said.
Blues goalie Legace continued his Georges Vezina impression against the Avs, beating them for the third time in as many starts this season. Legace was again outstanding, including on a 5-on-3 Avalanche advantage for nearly two minutes in the key second period. He finished with a 33-save shutout.
“I’m glad we don’t see him anymore this year,” Sakic said. “Seems like he’s got our number. It’s a lot harder playing against (St. Louis) now, too.”
The ironic part of the game was that the Avs’ brightest moment came on the penalty kill. Down 1-0 from a first-period Keith Tkachuk tap-in rebound goal, Colorado killed off a 5-on-3 Blues power play for 1:44 in the second.
Then they went on a 5-on-3 for 1:48 themselves, at the 6:24 mark, as Radek Dvorak and Dallas Drake were whistled for penalties. But the Avs had the puck cleared on them twice, and couldn’t get their sticks on any rebounds – not that Legace allowed many all night.
“That was a turning point, no question. We didn’t have a very good 5-on-3,” Quenneville said.
The Avs seemed to sag after coming up empty on the 5-on-3. Late in the period, Lee Stempniak beat Avs goalie Peter Budaj with a high point shot to the far post to make it 2-0.
The Blues are 5-0-3 in their past eight games, finishing 3-1 against the Avs.
“You look at the chances we’ve had the last couple games – we’ve had our opportunities,” Sakic said. “I wouldn’t say we’re sagging as a team, no. We just haven’t found a way to put the puck in the net.”
Staff writer Adrian Dater can be reached at 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com.
