In St Louis, the suddenly roster transformation reared up on Saturday afternoon in a 4-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche. 
“Just OK,” St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. “They got a couple power-play goals, that was the difference probably. We weren’t bad. We could be better.
“Just the whole situation that went down [with the trade]. I didn’t see the same energy and fight that we’ve had lately.”
Bowen Byram hit for a double for the Avs.
Justus Annunen made 19 saves in his first start of the season for Colorado.
The Avalanche improved to 30-19-5.
“It was a big game for us,” Colorado forward Artturi Lehkonen said. “The first leg of the back to back, we wanted to keep that going, what we started in Minnesota (a 3-2 win Wednesday), got a big two points.”
Colorado took a 1-0 lead in the first period on a goal; from Mikko Rantanen.
Byram stretched the lead to 2-0 in the middle frame.
Ryan O’Reilly and Noel Acciari were traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday.
“Yeah, it’s one of the tougher trades I’ve definitely dealt with,” St. Louis forward Brayden Schenn said. “I’ve known [O’Reilly] since I’ve been 17 and obviously played some Canada events and many good years here. He’s a guy that comes to the rink and lots of laughing and joking with him. On the flip side of that, he demands a lot of out of his teammates and works extremely hard and pulls guys into the fight each and every night. Guys like that are obviously great to play with.
“Shocking seeing the news about both of those guys going early, two character guys that … I guess shocking when you saw it, but I guess it’s been talked about for so long, it doesn’t really come to a shock with two weeks before the (2023 NHL Trade Deadline on March 3). Obviously two great team guys and Toronto got two guys that know what it takes to win.”
Sammy Blais cut the Avs lead to 2-1 at 15:28 of the middle frame.
The Blues dropped to 26-26-3.
Valeri Nichushkin hit off the power play early in the third period to give the Avs a 3-1 advantage.
Byram scored just ahead of the midway point of the third for the 4-1 final.
“It’s been stale a little bit here recently,” Bednar said of the power play. “I think it’s trying to be too cute and looking for the perfect play. We just encouraged them after the second to shoot the puck, make sure your work ethic and competitiveness is where it needs to be and just getting more competitive, more simple, shoot it and go to the net.”
Jordan Binnington made 29 saves in the St Louis loss.
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