Makar Hits Century Mark in St. Louis

Cale Makar continues to put his name toward the top of many National Hockey League records, this time scoring his 100th career point in his 108th game.
Makar had two points to reach the milestone, recording a goal and adding an assist in the Colorado Avalanche's 4-3 win against the St. Louis Blues on Thursday at Enterprise Center.
He tied Sergei Zubov (108 games in 1993-94) for the sixth-fewest games by a defenseman in NHL history to record 100 career points. The only other blueliners to do it faster were Harry Cameron (88 games in 1921-22), Mark Howe (94 games in 1980-81), Brian Leetch (102 games in 1989-90), Larry Murphy (105 games in 1981-82) and Phil Housley (106 games in 1983-84).

He got his first point of the night when he helped set up J.T. Compher's second goal in the contest and Makar officially hit the 100-mark when he scored the eventual game-winner in the third period.
"Just tried to create some separation from their forward that was on me there and Nate made an unbelievable play, pulling up and then hitting me high," Makar said of his tally. "I was able to get probably my only shot of the night through to the net there and fortunately it went in. In general, as an individual, I got to get more of those through, but at the same time, incredible play by the guys there."

Makar finished the contest with 12 shot attempts, three of which made it on goal. He also logged a game-high 25:14 and had one takeaway.
He missed the preseason while rehabbing from offseason surgery but has been progressing in his performance on the ice as the season has moved further along. Makar is on a three-game point streak, recording five points (two goals, three assists) in that span.
"Coming out of the Florida game he was better; Tampa was a huge impact game for him. And the other night I didn't love his first couple periods, and then he got going. But tonight, he was he was on it right away," head coach Jared Bednar said of Makar. "More physical, played with more assertiveness, better with the puck. I mean, he was shooting the puck a lot tonight, so he got a few blocked early in the game, I'd like to see him get a few through. But, when you're going to shoot in volume, you're going to have to deal with get some blocked. I think we should stay with it, and we did and eventually he gets a few through to the net and he ends up scoring.
"I mean, it's important for him to kind of understand that every shot he takes is not going to go in, it's not going to be the perfect play every time. St Louis was coming out at our D hard and eventually, you know, he keeps shooting and shooting and eventually one goes in for him. I liked the stick-to-itiveness to it. I liked his resiliency in a lot of different areas, and he was just making better decisions tonight. More competitive too."
The Calgary, Alberta, native made his regular-season debut against his hometown team the Calgary Flames on Oct. 3, 2019. He began his NHL tenure on a five-game point streak and has scored 22 goals and 78 assists in his 108 regular-season outings.
Only nine active players have hit the 100-point mark in fewer games, none of which are defensemen: Alex Ovechkin (77 games), Sidney Crosby (80 games), Evgeni Malkin (89 games), Connor McDavid (92 games), Paul Stastny (99 games), Mathew Barzal (101 games), Elias Pettersson (103 games), Patrick Kane (104 games) and Artemi Panarin (107 games).
The 22-year-old is the fourth player and second blueliner from the 2017 draft class to hit the mark, joining Pettersson, Nico Hischier and Miro Heiskanen.

COMPHER GOAL, TIMES 2

J.T. Compher registered the sixth multi-goal game of his career and first since scoring a hat trick against the Los Angeles Kings in Colorado's penultimate game of the 2020-21 regular season on May 12. Five of Compher's six multi-goal performances have come on the road.
The Northbrook, Illinois, native has three multi-point games this year and his four markers this season lead all Avalanche players.
His second goal of the evening came on the man advantage, making Compher one of six players to have scored a goal while shorthanded, on the power play and at even strength this season.

BANGED UP AVS

The Avalanche training room got even busier on Thursday as Mikko Rantanen missed his first game of the season with a lower-body injury. He is considered day-to-day and joined forwards Stefan Matteau and Valeri Nichushkin, defensemen Samuel Girard and Devon Toews, and goaltender Pavel Francouz.
Toews was cleared for controlled contact on Monday and has since been practicing in a normal jersey. Head coach Jared Bednar noted pregame that Toews should make his season debut sometime next week.

MORE AVALANCHE NOTES

The contest was the second of three meetings between the Avalanche and Blues and Colorado's only trip of the season to St. Louis.
The Blues are one of two teams in the Central Division (Dallas is the other) who the Avs play three times instead of four. St. Louis will make its final trip to Denver on April 26.
Including the playoffs, Colorado has won five of its last six matchups against the Blues and 10 of its last 13.
The Avalanche's 42 shots are a season high, while the 18 shots by St. Louis are the fewest the Avs have allowed this season.
Ryan Murray recorded his first points in an Avalanche uniform, finishing with two assists.