A lot has changed since the Colorado Avalanche last met the St. Louis Blues.
Colorado has lost one of their depth defensemen in Erik Johnson. He will be out indefinitely. Backup goaltender Pavel Francouz is also out for three weeks with an injury. The Blues have made a blockbuster deal to trade off their captain and former Avalanche draft pick Ryan O’Reilly to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Justus Annunen would get the start for Colorado in what became his best game in the NHL.
Rantanen Reaches 200
Mikko Rantanen has been stalled at 199 career goals for the last few games. J.T. Compher fought his way around the back of the net and sent a pass up to the point to Nathan MacKinnon. The number one center took the puck and started down the wall and dumped it back to Rantanen. He passed it back to MacKinnon, who took it to the slot and passed it over to Rantanen. The right winger snapped it right over the shoulder of goaltender Jordan Binnington. The goal puts him only two behind Peter Forsberg in franchise history.
Annunen Gets Second Career Start
Justus Annunen has had multiple call-ups but has primarily served as a backup for the starter in net for the Avalanche. Annunen got his first start and first win last season on December 6th against Philadelphia. Today he was called upon to give Alexandar Georgiev a bit of a break. Annunen looked solid in net the whole game with the only goal coming from the Blues by Sammy Blais on a cross-ice pass. The play had Annunen moving from post to post and he may have gotten caught thinking the pass was going to another player. Annunen ended the day by stopping 19 of 20 shots on goal and had a .950 save percentage, far superior to his .912 save percentage with the Colorado Eagles.
Makar Returns and Departs…Again
During a third-period power play, The Blues cleared the puck out of their own zone. Cale Makar, who missed the last four games, stood up on the blue line to Alexey Toropchenko. As he was trying to pass Makar, he accidentally hit Makar in the chin or face. The 24-year-old defenseman immediately headed to the bench and went down the tunnel to the locker rooms. He did return to the game with 8:08 remaining. The fact that he had to leave the game is concerning though, he has a history of concussions and did the Avalanche rush him back?
Defense
The Colorado Avalanche was on point today as well. They earned four of the possible twelve points on offense as Bowen Byram and Samuel Girard both earned two points ( two goals and two assists respectively). The defense blocked what would have been ten shots on goal, just that much less work for Annunen to do. They had fourteen takeaways to help eliminate what little Blues’ offense there was. If it weren’t for the defense moving the puck out of the Avalanche zone, they would not have played as well as they did.
Conclusion
Today was a team effort all around for the Avalanche. The offense was able to produce goals and draw penalties while the defense did nothing but help keep Annunen calm. Colorado now has won two in a row and is only four points out of second place in the Central Division. They have one game in hand on the Winnipeg Jets and play them this coming Friday. It will be a game to watch for sure. Colorado will be heading home for another matinee game tomorrow against the Edmonton Oilers at 1 PM.
More must-reads: