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Stastny's first goal vs. Avs helps Blues earn win

[March 06, 2017] DENVER -- Paul Stastny waited 11 games to finally score against his former team, and he got the goal with a captive audience right in front of him.

Stastny scored early in the first period to the delight of his family, Jake Allen had 27 saves to make it stand up, and the St. Louis Blues picked up two valuable points with a 3-0 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday night.

Kyle Brodziak and Patrik Berglund also collected goals for the Blues, who stopped a five-game skid and moved past the idle Los Angeles Kings for the second wild-card slot in the Western Conference.

Allen's 14th career shutout gives St. Louis 69 points, one more than the Kings. The Blues (32-27-5) have played one game fewer than Los Angeles.

"The win at the end of the day was the most important thing, but to come out and get a couple (first-period) goals, that took some weight off our shoulders," Allen said. "We've had a tough time finding the back of the net, and it put some confidence in our team."

The Blues had a scary moment when Allen made a save on Gabriel Landeskog with a little more than three minutes left and then appeared to be hurt.

The trainer came on the ice to check on the goalie, but Allen stayed in the game.

"I got hit right in the throat," he said. "I couldn't breathe. It zapped me. My throat's still killing me. It's tough to talk."

Jeremy Smith stopped 22 shots for Colorado, which was shut out for the 11th time this season and has just two goals in the past four games. The franchise record for times getting blanked is 12, set in 2008-09.

The Avalanche (17-44-3) have lost four straight and seven of their past eight. They are 2-10-1 in the past month.

"Scoring isn't coming in bunches right now, so we have to make sure we play tight defensively," Landeskog said. "You give up two in the first five minutes of the last two games, it's an uphill battle from there. "

The Blues wasted no time in grabbing the lead and then padding it.

Stastny got St. Louis on the board when he scored a power-play goal at 3:56 of the first. He positioned himself on the left side of the crease and knocked in a crossing pass from Jaden Schwartz for his 17th of the season.

Stastny's wife, Haley, and their 18-month-old daughter were seated right behind the net.

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"I knew they were sitting there, so in my head before the game (I thought) it would be cool to have a tap-in," said Stastny, who played his first eight NHL seasons with Colorado before signing with St. Louis in 2014. "Maybe Schwartz knew that they were there and fed me right there. Momentum took me right to them."

Brodziak made it 2-0 just 1:37 later when he converted Fedor Tyutin's turnover into his eighth goal.

Colorado had some chances to cut into the lead, including a point-blank shot by Nathan MacKinnon, but Allen kept Colorado off the board.

"I liked the way we checked tonight, the way we played D-zone coverage," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "We didn't have a bunch of breakdowns there. We were pretty solid, as were they."

The Blues then made it 3-0 when Berglund scored on the power play off another Avalanche turnover at 10:11 of the second. It was his 18th of the season.

The Avalanche swarmed Allen in the final minutes but couldn't get one past him.

"It felt like we didn't get our offense going," Landeskog said. "There were a few chances here and there, but we need more as far as offense goes. That's a group effort."

NOTES: Colorado LW Sven Andrighetto, acquired from Montreal on Wednesday, made his Avalanche debut. He registered two shots on goal and a minus-1 rating. ... Blues D Jordan Schmaltz, the team's first-round pick in the 2012 draft, made his NHL debut Sunday night. He finished a plus-1 in 15:07 of ice time. ... The Avalanche are now 6-12 in both games of a back-to-back this season. They are 4-5 in the second game of the sequence. ... St. Louis LW Jaden Schwartz skated in his 300th NHL game Sunday. ... Colorado is now 0-for-23 on the power play in the past nine games and has just one power-play goal in the past 13 games.

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