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 If they sneak in at the end, Wednesday night's game might prove to
be a turning point.
Right winger Gabriel Landeskog scored at 4:44 of overtime, and the
Avalanche rallied to beat the St. Louis Blues 4-3.
Centers Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene and Mikhail Grigorenko also
scored for Colorado (20-18-3). Goaltender Semyon Varlamov had 35
saves.
The Avalanche pulled within two points of Nashville for the second
wild card in the Western Conference. Although there are 41 games
left, Friday's game against the Predators looms large.
"We're not going to fool ourselves and say it's not big," Landeskog
said. "This is a playoff type of game. If we're going to be in the
playoffs, these are the teams we have to beat."
It started with a big comeback against the Blues, which was capped
with Landeskog's first goal since Dec. 15.
The back-and-forth overtime ended when St. Louis goalie Jake Allen
came out to play a puck entering the zone. Center John Mitchell got
there first and sent a pass across to Landeskog, who scored into an
empty net for his ninth of the season.
"That's all Mitchie," Landeskog said. "He hustled and he beat Allen
to the puck and turned around. I was yelling and screaming pretty
loud. He slid it over and I was just hoping and praying that it
wouldn't hop over my stick."
Right winger Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and an assist, and center
Patrik Berglund and right winger David Backes also had goals for the
Blues (23-14-6). Allen had 29 saves.
St. Louis has lost four straight, the last two in overtime.
"We're not closing off games," St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock said.
"We're going through that phase where we've got to show more
composure and close off games."
Varlamov went off for an extra skater with 2:10 remaining and
MacKinnon scored the equalizer to make it 3-3 and force overtime
with a shot from bottom of the right circle at 18:31. It was his
14th of the season.
"When you play like this you're going to get cheesy ones at times,"
MacKinnon said. "It felt good to tie it up and made for a fun
night."
Duchene's backhander 4:48 into the game went off Allen's arm and it
rolled off the goalie into the net to give Colorado a 1-0 lead. It
was his team-leading 19th of the season.
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Duchene was playing his first game since being named to the NHL
All-Star Game on Jan. 31. It is his second All-Star honor and first
since 2011, his second year in the league.
Wednesday's overtime gave Duchene some practice for the new 3-on-3
format for the All-Star Game.
"I'm excited for it," Duchene said. "I think it makes it more like a
game than 5-on-5 would have been. I think it's going to be a good
time."
Tarasenko tied it at 1-1 when he roofed a shot close in at 16:24 of
the first. It was his 24th of the season.
Backes' power-play goal at 19:02 of the first made it 2-1, and the
lead grew to 3-1 just 50 seconds into the second period when
Berglund scored an unassisted goal. It was his first of the year.
Grigorenko got one back at 6:32 when he outmuscled Tarasenko in the
slot and beat Allen high for his second of the season to make it
3-2.
"We played a pretty solid game for the first half and they make a
little bit of a push," Backes said. "They get that (second goal) and
that gives them life, makes it a one-goal game."
NOTES: Colorado claimed D Andrew Bodnarchuk off waivers from
Columbus on Tuesday and he was in the lineup against St. Louis. He
had two assists in 16 games with the Blue Jackets this season. ...
St. Louis C Kyle Brodziak was on the fourth line after sitting out
Monday against Ottawa because of fatigue. He previously missed five
games after his leg was cut by a skate. ... Avalanche D Erik Johnson
is expected to miss one to two weeks with a lower-body injury
suffered in the second period of Monday's win over Los Angeles. ...
St. Louis RW Scottie Upshall was scratched.
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