Blues defeat Avalanche in season opener

DENVER -- Oskar Sundqvist scored two goals for the St. Louis Blues in a 4-1 win against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on Wednesday in the season opener for each team.

Jordan Kyrou and Kyle Clifford scored, Robert Thomas and Jaden Schwartz had two assists, and Jordan Binnington made 26 saves for St. Louis.
"Excited to play a hockey game," Binnington said. "We came out strong as a team. Couple penalties, but we did a good job. The boys stepped up, and we found a way to get it done. We played right until the end."
WATCH: [All Blues vs. Avalanche highlights]
Andre Burakovsky scored, and Philipp Grubauer made 28 saves for Colorado.
"The biggest thing I said this morning was, are we ready to compete?" Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "Compete against a live opponent, someone wearing a different jersey. As hard as you compete in (training) camp, as much as I liked our camp, it's a completely different level when you get the opposition in your building. To me, we just got outworked right from the start. Not ready to go, lazy habits, how it was going to be easier than it was. It showed."
Sundqvist moved up to the second line with Thomas and Schwartz because Mike Hoffman, who signed a one-year contract Monday, wasn't eligible to play because his work visa had yet to be approved. The Blues expect Hoffman will be available against the Avalanche on Friday.
"It's next man up," Sundqvist said. "It doesn't matter if it's me or someone else. It's always someone that's stepping up. That's one of our strengths with this team, that we got that mentality. No one really changes their game, they just move up the lineup and play the same style. It's nice to see."

Burakovsky gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 4:55 of the first period with a power-play goal. J.T. Compher's pass from the left boards slid through Nazem Kadri's legs to Burakovsky for a shot in the right circle.
Sundqvist tied the game 1-1 at 9:29. Schwartz took a drop pass from Thomas and fed Sundqvist driving to the net.
Kyrou made it 2-1 at 13:15 with a tap-in from in front on a give-and-go with Tyler Bozak.
"I think the first period we didn't have our legs," Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen said. "We were not good enough in the battles; we just blew it in too many battles, giving up too many chances. Short camp, first game, so we just have to learn from it now. We didn't have a lot going. It's compete level, it's not system or anything, it's in our head. We have to be prepared. St. Louis plays like that every year, they're a heavy team, they check hard, so you have to respond to that. You can't sit back and watch like we did in the first. That's what cost us the most, I think."

After getting outshot 17-5 in the first period, the Avalanche had a 15-6 advantage in the second but couldn't produce the tying goal despite two power plays.
"We had a little bit of a bounce-back in the second period, but we still didn't do enough to take control of the game," Bednar said. "We worked harder, but then some lazy habits showed up. We didn't deserve to win the game, no question."
Clifford scored in his Blues debut to make it 3-1 at 6:46 of the third period. After Colorado defenseman Samuel Girard lost the puck to Ivan Barbashev behind the net, Barbashev made a pass that deflected off the stick of Blues forward Sammy Blais to Clifford for a shot from the right hash marks.
Sundqvist made it 4-1 at 14:22 when he put in his own rebound after accepting a pass from Thomas.
"It was a good team night," Thomas said. "Everyone played well, everyone played the right way. Good that we got the win. We've had this mentality for a while -- next man up. Whenever something happens, everyone's always ready to go. That was the case tonight."
NOTES: Defenseman Torey Krug was plus-1 with one shot on goal, two hits and three blocked shots in 22:07 in his Blues debut. ... Forward Brandon Saad was minus-3 in 13:26 in his Avalanche debut.