In St Louis, the Blues lost to Mikko Rantanen, 3-2, in a Sunday matinee.
Rantanen tied the game late in the third to force extra time, and finished his hat trick in the extra session for the Colorado Avalanche win.
“I think we knew what to do and we just needed to win,” Rantanen said. “We tried to execute the game plan and we got it done in the first shift. Good play by Cale and ‘Val’ [Nichushkin].”
With Pavel Francouz pulled for the extra skater, Rantanen tied the game with nine seconds on the regulation clock.
“Right when it landed, it hit ‘Comphs’ in the stomach and bounced over there,” Rantanen said. “It was a good play by ‘Toewser’ and Cale to get it over there. ‘Toewser’ good play just to touch it to the net and it was a 2-on-1 there. We got a bounce and I think we earned that one.”
Francouz made 30 saves in the Avs win.
Colorado improved to 14-10-2.
“I liked our competitiveness all night,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “It wasn’t the perfect game from us by any stretch, but I did like the way we competed and the way we stuck with it. I think everyone was emotionally invested in the game. … To be able to stick with it, go into the 6-on-4, 6-on-5 and get a few pucks to the net, a few looks at it, get the equalizer and finish it off in OT is what you want to see from your team there.”
Rantanen’s first goal gave the Avs a 1-0 lead in the first period.
Vladimir Tarasenko and Brandon Saad scored to give the Blues a 2-1 lead they could not quite hold.
“We did a lot of good things, but we’re all disappointed we didn’t win the game, including all the players that played the game, everybody,” St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. “We’re all disappointed, but it’s a good point. We did a lot of good things, like I said, and we’ve got to keep building off it and keep working. We’ve got a tough game again tomorrow coming in.”
St Louis dropped to 12-15-1.
“I thought we did a better job of committing to the kill and being tighter and just overall, as a team group, not getting too extended out there,” Saad said. “So it was a better job for that aspect. So that’s a positive but like I said, we’ve got to keep moving forward and improving.”
Jordan Binnington made 28 saves in the Blues loss.
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