The Avalanche had a chance to win for the fourth time in its last five home games Tuesday night.
As with so many other opportunities this season, though, the Avs couldn’t pull it off.
After Colorado held a 1-0 lead on the strength of an early goal until late in the second period, St. Louis rallied for a 4-2 win at the .
The Blues were up 3-2 and Colorado goalie Calvin Pickard was off for a sixth attacker when Nathan MacKinnon rang a shot off the crossbar and the Blues clinched it with Patrik Berglund’s empty-netter with 48 seconds left.
“I hit it square and it went up over the mesh,” MacKinnon said of his shot. “It feels like that’s the way it’s going. … It feels like we’re back in November and December again. We just fell apart in the third period. It’s tough to say exactly what it is, but it has to stop.”
Mitchell got his third goal of the season in his return to the lineup after being a healthy scratch at Chicago on Sunday.
“We’re playing real well in the first period,” he said. “We had tons of scoring chances even in the second period. We just have to find a way to get those pucks into the back of the net. We gave ourselves an opportunity to get up 2- or even 3-0, so we just have to find a way to do that.”
In the final season of his contract, Mitchell — who at one point was waived this season, went unclaimed and remained with the Avalanche — is playing for a job, whether than’s with the Avalanche or anyone else.
“My contract’s up this year, so you’re trying to go out there and play as hard as you can every night,” he said. “Whether that’s getting points or just doing well on faceoffs, blocking shots, getting hits, being involved in the game as much as you can.”
After Mitchell’s goal, Berglund, Magnus Paajarvi and former Colorado College standout Jaden Schwartz had consecutive scores to give the Blues a 3-1 lead before Colorado defenseman Mark Barberio scored with 5:10 remaining to get the Avalanche within 3-2.
With 83 points, the Blues now are tied for third in the Central Division with Nashville — the top three teams in the division qualify for the postseason automatically — and both are eight points in front of the in the chase for the second Western Conference wild-card spot.
So the Avs also failed to do a favor for former teammate Jarome Iginla, traded to the Kings on March 1 as he sought a chance to skate one more time in the NHL postseason in the twilight of his career.
Jake Allen had 26 saves in the Blues’ net, 10 in each of the first two periods.
“I thought our guys played really hard tonight, both ends of the rink,” said Colorado coach Jared Bednar. “We came out jumping, a lot of good chances. (Allen) was good in net and we missed on a couple of opportunities on that flurry in the second period. . . We were putting pucks on net and it looked like the net was empty a few times and we missed.”
The game drew an announced crowd of 11,687, but it was apparent many sold tickets went unused.
Colorado (20-49-3) has lost three straight, since this came after weekend defeats at Detroit and Chicago. The Avalanche next has a home-and-home set against Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers, Thursday at the Pepsi Center and Saturday at the new Rogers Center in Edmonton.
BOXSCORE:
