*Photo from TSN*
The Colorado Avalanche are in the playoffs. After the Vegas Golden Knights clinched recently, the Avalanche got in the fun themselves. Andre Burakovsky scored twice, Nathan McKinnon contributed 3 assists, and the Avalanche took down the St.Louis Blues with a 4-2 win Thursday night.
Jaden Schwartz got the Blues on the board to start, but a goal by Brandon Saad tied things up at one apiece after one period. In the second, Burakovsky scored on the power play, his 13th goal of the season, to give the Avs a 2-1 lead. In the 3rd, Burakovsky scored again to make it 3-1. Schwartz then scored for the Blues to cut it to 3-2, but Pierre-Edouard Bellemare then scored for the Avs to make it 4-2.
Tyson Jost made a defensive play on one end that led to an Avalanche goal. When asked how that felt, Jost said "It felt good. St. Louis got a power play there and the period was winding down and we had to respond. I knocked it down. We scored. It definitely felt good. You never know how it's going to go when you've been off that long."
Devan Dubnyk got the win in net for the Avs, stopping 25 of 27 shots in the winning effort. Dubnyk improved to 2-0-0 with the Avalanche, and 5-9-2 this season. The Avs control second place in the West Division, with a 31-9-4 record, as they locked up a playoff spot with the win.
Avs coach Jared Bednar said of the team's effort that "I thought it was pretty good. The start of the game we looked a little big sluggish with the pace of our play. Our urgency got better as the game went on. It was a real good game for us for being the first one back. Pretty happy to get that result."
Jordan Binnington got the loss in net for the Blues, saving 25 of 28 shots, with the Blues being unable to move into a playoff spot with the loss. Binnington's record fell to 12-14-5 this season, while the Blues have a 19-19-6 record so far, 5th in the West Division.
Blues coach Craig Berube said of the loss that "We cause our own problems. This is a good enough hockey team to get through this, but in saying that, there's got to be a lot more composure within our veteran group here. We have a lot of veterans on this team that have won and have won a championship, and we've got to have more composure in our game. That's the bottom line. Things are going to happen out there that are out of your control, but we're not controlling what we can control."
The Avalanche and Blues square off again Saturday, with Dubnyk and Binnington the expected goalies.
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