In a fight-filled affair at the Pepsi Center Friday night, the St. Louis Blues beat the Avalanche 3-2 behind Colton Parayko’s overtime goal to snap Colorado’s six-game winning streak.
NHL points leader Mikko Rantanen had the game-tying goal on a power play a few minutes into the third period, but Colorado couldn’t muster another score after that as the Blues thwarted the home team’s comeback effort following St. Louis’ early 2-0 lead.
“It was a playoff atmosphere,” Rantanen said. “The fans were into it, and both teams were playing physical. There was a lot of chippyness there, but it was a hard-fought game. It was two good teams going at it. We’ll take a point even though we had chances to win.”
Previously red-hot Colorado — which hadn’t lost in regulation since Nov. 9 in Winnipeg — tested the St. Louis defense from the initial puck drop, but it was the Blues who opened up the scoring.
Moments after the Avalanche had a couple near-goals on a power play, Vladimir Tarasenko gathered a loose puck at center ice for a breakaway. His shot squirted through the legs of Semyon Varlamov and slid into the net for a 1-0 Blues’ advantage at 15:03 in the first.
Then tensions between the Central division foes heated up. Ian Cole and Vince Dunn came to blows at the 12 minute mark, leading to five minute fighting penalties for each. That physicality continued throughout the rest of the period, which culminated in Colin Wilson’s high-sticking penalty that enabled St. Louis to extend its lead.
With 15 seconds remaining on Wilson’s penalty and under a minute to go in the period, Nikita Zadorov tried to clear the puck up the boards from the corner of Colorado’s defensive zone. But Alexander Steen knocked it down, corralled the puck and beat Varlamov for a 2-0 Blues lead.
The Avalanche took the ice with renewed intensity in the second, and Zadorov atoned for his earlier turnover with a top right shelf, unassisted slap shot past Jake Allen at 18:52 to pull Colorado to 2-1.
“It gets everybody fired up when every shift you go out there, you have to battle,” Rantanen said. “We took that mentality into the second, and it paid off early.”
More fights followed, and a couple minutes after Zadorov’s goal, Erik Johnson was disqualified for elbowing in a hit to Steen’s head that started another fracas in front of the St. Louis net. Steen left the game with an upper-body injury following the hit that the Blues took exception to and the league will likely review.
“To take a dirty hit like that on a pointless play for a guy just coming back from an injury is terrible to see,” Jake Allen said. “Itap uncalled for.”
In the third, Colorado went on the advantage thanks to an interference penalty on David Perron. The league’s top power play unit didn’t waste the opportunity, netting its 27th goal of the season when Samuel Girard’s slap shot set up the unassisted rebound goal by Rantanen at 17:47. After tying it 2-2, the Avalanche continued to threaten the rest of the third but couldn’t find the net.
“The third period, we found a way to start pouring it on,” Bednar said. “I felt like a couple of our guys who were missing for the first couple periods started to play well in the third. We got deeper into our bench, and we started putting some pressure on them and had a chance to win the game on a power play there at the end. We didn’t capitalize on a couple good looks.”
Parayko streaked coast-to-coast by an overmatched Girard and put home the game-winner 94 seconds into overtime.
“Missing (Johnson) on the back end left us a little thin, and we were running some guys ragged back there,” Bendar said.
Colorado (15-6-5, tied for 1st in Western Conference) now embarks on a four-city, weeklong road trip starting Sunday in Detroit. The Avalanche are back at the Pepsi Center next Dec. 11 against Edmonton.
