ST. LOUIS — Pavel Francouz and the Blues are a lot alike. If the Avalanche backup goalie had to be compared to any team this season, it would probably be St. Louis.
The Blues are erratic and streaky. They lost eight consecutive games, then won seven straight, then lost seven of nine entering Sunday afternoon’s matchup against Colorado. Francouz had a four-game stretch with a save percentage of .948, then he struggled at .862 in his two most recent starts over the past three weeks. The Avs arrived in St. Louis not knowing which Francouz they were going to get, or which Blues.
So it was fitting that Francouz faced the division rivals for the first time in his career Sunday, and the spin of the wheel resulted in an unpredictable game with a wild finish: a 3-2 Avalanche victory cemented with Mikko Rantanen’s fifth career hat trick.
Former Av Brandon Saad scored a short-handed goal to make it 2-1 with 1:36 remaining to seemingly complete St. Louis’ third-period comeback, but with 8.1 seconds remaining, a Cale Makar shot ricocheted off J.T. Compher’s body and landed behind goalie Jordan Binnington in the crease. Rantanen pushed the puck across with his stick to steal the first of two Colorado points.
Eight more seconds and it would have been the Avalanche’s fifth consecutive loss and seventh in the last nine. Instead, Rantanen stuffed another goal past Binnington 29 seconds into overtime.
“We’ve been fighting hard,” he said. “I think today and the last game was a step in the right direction.”
Regulation wasn’t enough in the last game either, but the Avalanche lost that one 2-1 in a shootout — baby steps in the first week without star center Nathan MacKinnon, who is out an estimated four weeks.
For the second consecutive game, the Avs (14-10-2) got healthier for a change. Artturi Lehkonen rejoined the lineup after missing one week with a concussion. In Valeri Nichushkin’s second game since a one-month absence, he and Lehkonen flanked Rantanen on the top line.
An odd trend has been developing in Rantanen’s game. Individual home-road splits don’t typically yield dramatic differences in hockey, but Rantanen’s were becoming noticeable. Before St. Louis, he had just eight points in 13 true road games — but 20 points, including nine goals, in 10 games at Ball Arena.
So it was a refreshing boost when he kept the puck in a 2-on-1 rush and released a nonchalant-seeming wrister into the top shelf. It broke the ice in a defensively sound game at 10:58 of the second period.
“I thought (Rantanen) was big tonight — not just his play, his leadership role on the ice,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “Was mixing him in with (Alex) Newhook, so he was playing a little bit with Newhook and his line. Giving him a little extra ice time whenever possible.”
One goal was all Francouz had to work with most of the day. He went toe-to-toe with Binnington, the often-controversial St. Louis netminder who upended the Avs with 45 saves a month ago in Denver. This time, the Blues outshot the Avalanche by 12, but Francouz made 34 saves. He managed to fend off the Blues until 12 minutes remained when Vladimir Tarasenko scored seconds into a high-sticking double minor on Makar. The incalculable Blues were finally awakened.
“There’s some inconsistencies to their game,” Bednar told The Denver Post before puck drop. “But I still consider them a contender and a top team in the west.”
And likewise, Francouz has been the trusted backup through four years of ups and downs in Colorado. But he found himself in a compromised situation at the worst possible time when the puck bounced off a referee’s skate toward his zone during a Colorado power play. Compher slipped as he tried to beat Saad to the loose puck, and Saad calmly scored.
Francouz watched the next 90 seconds from the bench.
“I was just hoping until the last second when I saw the shot,” he said. “The puck just disappeared somewhere. I was hoping it was going to bounce in the net.”
It might not have if Rantanen’s outstretched stick hadn’t gotten to it first. Neither of his last two goals were as pretty as the first, but they were more desperate and essential.
