ST. LOUIS — It sounded like the familiar “Varly, Varly” but instead was “Marty, Marty.”
Martin Brodeur, in his first start against the Patrick Roy-coached Avalanche, coasted Monday night to a 16-save, 3-0 shutout over Colorado and under-siege goalie Semyon Varlamov.
Afterward, Roy indirectly criticized Brodeur, his former on-ice rival, on being named the No. 1 star at the Scottrade Center. But Roy directly criticized his high-priced forwards — presumably Matt Duchene, Gabe Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon, Ryan O’Reilly, Daniel Briere, Alex Tanguay and Jarome Iginla — who are collectively not getting it done offensively.
“A shutout is a shutout, and you have to make some saves,” Roy said of Brodeur, who surpassed him in all-time NHL wins. “But maybe it was one of his easiest ones.”
Landeskog and Briere have zero goals in their last 10 games. Duchene and MacKinnon have one in that span, O’Reilly two and Tanguay and Iginla three apiece.
“When you’re looking at guys with zero goals in 10 games or one or two goals in 10 games, it’s clear that we need to do things differently,” Roy said, adding that he has tried to simplify the offense by focusing on putting shots on net.
Roy suspects the Avalanche generated only five scoring chances. The Blues had 17 after two periods, plus two third-period breakaways and a goal by Vladimir Tarasenko.
“Right now too many of our forwards are in a slump,” Roy said. “If you look at our last 10 games, there’s too many of them with one goal in 10 games or zero goals. It’s not enough offensively. We need more from our top guys.”
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The Avs, who have been outscored 7-2 (non-empty net) in their two-game losing streak, previously won three straight and collected points in six. But Roy said his top forwards have been hiding behind some of those wins.
“We lost 1-0 in overtime (at Pittsburgh), we won 2-1 (at) Detroit in a shootout, and on and on,” Roy said. “We score zero goals against these guys (after) a 5-0 win (Dec. 23 against St. Louis). Defensively. I thought we played really well and allowed us to be in some games, and give some free passes to some of our forwards in the way that they could hide behind those wins. But now, we’re going to need our best players to perform.”
Former University of Denver standouts Paul Stastny and Chris Butler played a large role in snapping the Blues’ four-game losing streak. Stastny, who played his first eight NHL seasons for the Avalanche, assisted on two goals early in the second period, the latter scored by Butler. Stastny and Butler grew up in St. Louis before joining DU in 2004 and 2005, respectively.
MVP candidate Tarasenko added his 22nd goal of the season off a Colorado turnover late in the third period.
The Avs had a good opening period, producing eight of the 14 shots, but were significantly outplayed in the second and third.
“We got off to the start we wanted. We played a really good first period, and for whatever reason we didn’t show up in the second and third,” Avs defenseman Tyson Barrie said. “To come out totally flat is unacceptable.”
The Avalanche returns home to face the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday.
Mike Chambers: mchambers@denverpost.com or
