Colorado Begins Back-To-Back Set in St. Louis

The Colorado Avalanche (36-29-13) takes on the St. Louis Blues (42-28-8) at 6 p.m. MT on Monday at Enterprise Center in the fourth and final matchup between the Central Division rivals this regular season.
Since the 1995-96 campaign, the Avalanche has a 47-36-12 mark against the Blues, including a 19-22-5 record as the visiting team. This year, the Avs have gone 0-1-2 in three games versus St. Louis.
After the matchup in St. Louis, the Avalanche heads back to Pepsi Center for the final two regular-season home outings of the year. The Edmonton Oilers visit the Mile High City on Tuesday and the Avs host the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday.

Last Time Out

Colorado beat the Arizona Coyotes 3-2 in a game decided by shootout on Friday night at Pepsi Center. Nathan MacKinnon and Derick Brassard registered power-play goals with assists from Gabriel Landeskog, Alexander Kerfoot, Colin Wilson and Carl Soderberg. Netminder Philipp Grubauer made 42 saves through regulation and overtime, tied for the second-most stops the German goaltender has made in a game this season. MacKinnon scored the shootout-winning goal in tie-breaker for the Avs as the team gained a point over the Coyotes in the Western Conference wild card race.
The Blues beat the New Jersey Devils 3-2 in overtime at Prudential Center on Saturday. Robert Thomas and Tyler Bozak each had a goal and an assist in regulation while Patrick Maroon and Jay Bouwmeester added a helper apiece. Vince Dunn scored the game-winner in the extra frame with an assist from Ryan O'Reilly. Jake Allen made 25 saves in the overtime win.

Last Time They Met

Colorado dropped a 3-0 contest to St. Louis on Feb. 16 at Pepsi Center. Blues netminder Jake Allen made 32 stops in his second shutout of the season as Vladimir Tarasenko, Zach Sanford and Jaden Schwartz reached the back of the net for St. Louis. Colorado and St. Louis each went 3-for-3 on the penalty kill in the outing.

What To Watch

Déjà vu
The Avs have earned points in nine of their last 12 matchups dating back to March 5 and have a one-point lead over the Arizona Coyotes for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Last season, the club earned points in 13 of its last 19 outings to finish the year and clinched a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in Game 82 with a win against the Blues on April 7.
Philipp-ing Out
The Avalanche has gone seven straight contests with only three or fewer goals against, the longest stretch for the club this season. Goaltender Philipp Grubauer has been in net for each of those games and owns a 6-0-1 record with a .957 save percentage and a 1.55 goals-against average.

Players To Watch

Colorado: Center Alexander Kerfoot
The Harvard graduate extended his current point streak to four games (one goal, four assists) with a helper in the win over Arizona on Friday, matching his career-best for consecutive outings reaching the scoresheet. Kerfoot has now compiled four-game point streaks on three separate occasions in his career. The 24-year-old has 39 points (12 goals, 27 assists) on the year, just four points shy of matching his rookie-season total from a year ago.
St. Louis: Center Ryan O'Reilly
The former member of the Colorado Avalanche has 73 points (27 goals, 46 assists) this season to lead his club and ranks second in the league with 1,029 total faceoff wins this year. Including this campaign, O'Reilly owns the longest active streak in the league of seasons with at least 1,000 wins at the dot, reaching the milestone in four straight campaigns.

The Details

Monday's clash between the Avalanche and Blues is scheduled for 6 p.m. MT. The game can be watched on NBCSN or streamed on select devices with the NBC Sports app or NHL.tv (out of market). The radio broadcast can be heard on Altitude Sports Radio FM 92.5 in the Denver area or online at ColoradoAvalanche.com.