The St. Louis Blues entered Sunday’s matchup with the Colorado Avalanche losers of five straight and on the outside looking in for the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. As it turns out, hockey’s worst team proved to be a cure for the Blues.
St. Louis scored a pair of goals in the game’s first 5:33, including a power play goal by former Avalanche forward Paul Stastny to open the scoring. It was Stastny’s first goal against his former team since leaving Colorado as a free agent in 2014. Kyle Brodziak scored soon after to double the St. Louis advantage. Patrik Berglund scored his 18th of the year in the second period, also on the power play, to cap the scoring.
Colorado outshot St. Louis 27 to 25, but could not solve Jake Allen. Jeremy Smith fell to 1-4 on the season with the loss. The shutout was Colorado’s 11th on the season, one away from the team record of 12. Colorado has now lost four games in a row, the sixth streak of at least four consecutive losses this season.
Colorado remains on pace for the worst points percentage in the shootout era. At .289, the Avs have a huge hole to climb out from to reach Buffalo’s mark of .317 set in 2013-14. Suffering shutout losses at home certainly won’t help that cause.
