ST. LOUIS, Mo. — With more ties than wins, the Avalanche continues to struggle with mediocrity. Which explains why the visiting dressing room at Scottrade Center was a quiet one Saturday night after another one-point result.
In extending both their points streak and sudden-death frustration, the Avs outplayed the St. Louis Blues in the third period and overtime but couldn’t get it done in the shootout. Former Avalanche forward Joakim Lindstrom scored the only shootout goal and the Blues escaped with a 3-2 triumph.
The Avs, who rallied from a 2-0 deficit and had four shots clang off iron behind St. Louis goalie Brian Elliott, are unbeaten in regulation over their last six games (2-0-4).
“It’s a reversal from last year,” said Avs captain Gabe Landeskog, who failed to score in the shootout along with teammates Matt Duchene and Ryan O’Reilly. “Last year every time we went into overtime it seemed we came out with a win. Now it’s reversed. You get into a shootout and it’s a coin toss.
“We wanted this one badly but one point on the road in this building, it’s not an easy thing to do. We’ll have to take the point and run with it but certainly we’d like to have two.”
The Avalanche (3-4-5, 11 points) will be flying home when the Anaheim Ducks are well past their curfew and resting at their Denver hotel. In a difficult back-to-back game stretch, Colorado hosts the Ducks at 6 p.m. Sunday.
“These things happen to everybody. Tomorrow, it’s us,” Avs coach Patrick Roy said of the two-day stretch. “It’s the way the schedule was made and let’s not find excuses. But let’s be ready tomorrow.”
The Avs trailed 1-0 after two periods and 2-0 just 46 seconds into the third, when Vladimir Tarasenko scored his second of the game. But the Avs climbed back into it with an effective power play, getting goals from O’Reilly (2:19) and Nathan MacKinnon (5:13) with a Blues player in the box.
A third consecutive St. Louis penalty nearly led to the third straight Avalanche goal, but Tyson Barrie’s slap shot clanged off iron behind goalie Elliott. Elliott, the former Av, had a 14-save shutout going after two periods.
“I like our game. I like the urgency we showed in the third period,” Roy said. “We didn’t give up. We kept going at these guys and scored two power play goals to put us back at 2-2 and this is a team that plays well defensively. It’s hard to get scoring chances and I thought we did a good job finding ways.”
PHOTOS:
He wasn’t tested much in the first period as the Avs, once again, came out asleep at the wheel. They registered just two shots and trailed 1-0 after it mercifully ended. They were much better in the second, outshooting the Blues 12-11 and consistently pressuring Elliott.
St. Louis scored 16:29 into the game. Tarasenko unleashed a slap shot from the top of the right circle and, because defenseman Nick Holden didn’t block it, Varlamov probably didn’t see the puck until it was too late. Holden served as the screen.
Mike Chambers: mchambers@denverpost.com or
ANAHEIM AT COLORADO
6 p.m. Sunday, ALT; 950 AM
Spotlight on Corey Perry: The Anaheim winger entered Saturday with a league-high 10 goals on the strength of two hat tricks. Perry, who is one of the NHL’s premier antagonists, has scored just once in the Ducks’ last four games — a stretch in which they have not scored more than twice in a game. Anaheim won 2-1 on Friday at Dallas before traveling to Denver and will be the more rested team against the Avs.
