Makar, a finalist for the Norris Trophy voted as the best defenseman in the NHL, has found it hard to operate at optimal speed against the Blues.
"He's such a great skater that if you can angle him and get the puck out of his hands quickly, that takes away a lot," St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. "We've been doing a good job of it so far."
The 23-year-old defenseman, who led the Avalanche with 10 points (three goals, seven assists) and had 20 shots with a plus-4 rating against the Predators in the first round, has no points, nine shots and a minus-2 rating in Games 1 and 2 of this series.
"There's a lot of times I can work myself out of the situations," Makar said, "but just haven't been able to the past two games because of lack of juice or whatnot. I think a lot of it goes on me, but I give them a lot of credit; they've done a good job.
"It's playoff time, so you have to find a way."