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The puck was on Dryden Hunt’s stick. The frame of the goal, momentarily, gloriously, was unoccupied.
Just not long enough.
St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington, still public enemy No. 1 in Colorado after last season’s second-round playoff series, lunged back in front of the net to stop Hunt’s potential game-tying shot in the third period. The Avalanche kept pressuring but couldn’t manage a chance as golden as that in a 3-2 loss Monday night — even in a 6-on-3 mad dash to the finish line caused by two Blues penalties in the last two minutes.
Colorado’s four-game winning streak came to an end despite the kind of end-to-end action that usually favors the Avalanche. Binnington saved 44 shots, including the late onslaught.
The Blues benefitted from puck luck on their game-tying and go-ahead goals late in the second period. Robert Thomas gained a stride on Nathan MacKinnon as he crossed center ice with the puck. His shot hit the top elbow of the goal before sliding in behind Avalanche goalie Alexandar Georgiev.
With 1:01 remaining in the period, former Avalanche forward Brandon Saad flung a centering pass that bounced over Georgiev’s left skate at the near post and leaked just across the goal line. The period ended disastrously with an interference penalty called on Mikko Rantanen with 1.4 seconds left. The Blues capitalized 13 seconds into the third for a 3-1 lead.
The Avs (8-5-1) couldn’t quite recover in a tight battle in which it felt like recent over-reliance on star players finally caught up with them.
Rantanen and MacKinnon have combined for 30 points in the last six games. During that stretch, they accounted for 43.5% of the Avalanche’s individual points, and at least one of them has scored or assisted on 20 of 26 goals (76.9%).
Both are playing major ice time with injuries plaguing the roster, but the back six couldn’t produce. The top players were on the ice for the frantic ending, but a slew of MacKinnon shots couldn’t get past Binnington, who threw a water bottle at former Avalanche forward Nazem Kadri last postseason in a contentious series.
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