Blues seek to end three-game slide with a win at Colorado
Scoring goals has been a problem for the Blues for a while now. Yielding too many has become one more recently.
The Blues have been held to two or fewer goals in their four defeats over the last five games. They've yielded at least three in all five contests after blowing a third-period lead in Monday's 3-2 overtime home loss to Ottawa.
"It's about points, it's about wins, it's about doing anything and everything you have to do to get it done," coach Ken Hitchcock said. "But it's also about not having to expend a ton more energy like we had to (Monday)."
Looking to avoid a third straight road loss (and fourth straight overall), the Blues (23-14-5) play the next three away from home, starting with Wednesday night's matchup at Colorado (19-18-13).
"It takes a lot to win in the league right now," said Hitchcock, whose club has been outscored 10-1 in the third period of the last five games. "If the sense of urgency inside the locker room grows, then we can grow from this."
St. Louis recorded a power-play goal in three straight games but has allowed its last two opponents to go 3 for 8 with the man advantage.
Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk scored one goal Monday for his third goal in four games. He assisted on Vladimir Tarasenko's power-play goal against the Avs last month.
Tarasenko has a team-high 23 goals, but none in six games at Colorado.
Now that Jarome Iginla has his 600th goal, the Avalanche can focus solely on stringing together some victories. Iginla became the 19th NHL player to reach 600 on Monday, when his third-period power-play goal -- Colorado's third of the game -- was the final tally of a 4-1 victory.
Watch the Blues Live pregame and postgame shows before and after every St. Louis Blues game on FOX Sports Midwest.
"It is a little bit (of a relief)," the 38-year-old Iginla, who went without a goal in the previous three games, told the NHL's official website. "Now it's done and time to move forward."
The Avalanche ended an 0-2-2 home skid by winning for the second time in six games since taking a season-high five in a row.
"When it comes down to it, it's about winning games and everything like that," said Iginla, who is third on the team with 11 goals but hasn't scored in consecutive contests since Nov. 1-3.
"We need to start climbing back and catching some teams."
Colorado bounced back from Saturday's 4-0 home loss to Calgary thanks to a power play that's 11 for 24 in the last seven games. It was 1 for 26 in the previous 10 contests.
Defenseman Tyson Barrie, who assisted on Iginla's goal, had another assist and two goals to record the first four-point game of his career. Barrie ranks among the NHL's top defensemen with 27 points.
"That's the Tyson we like to see," coach Patrick Roy said.
Neither Iginla nor Barrie had a point in a 3-1 victory at St. Louis on Dec. 13, but teammate Semyon Varlamov made a season-high 42 saves. Varlamov stopped 30 shots Monday after posting a 4.37 goals-against average while in net for the previous four home contests.
Avs defenseman and ex-Blue Erik Johnson will not play after suffering a lower-body injury Monday. The club claimed defenseman Andrew Bodnarchuk on waivers from Columbus on Tuesday.
