Blues lose to Avalanche in 1st game after trading O'Reilly

ST. LOUIS --The St. Louis Blues lost their first game since trading Ryan O'Reilly, 4-1 to the Colorado Avalanche at Enterprise Center on Saturday.

The Blues traded O'Reilly, a center and their captain since 2020, and forward Noel Acciari to the Toronto Maple Leafs in a three-team deal Friday that also included the Minnesota Wild for forwards
Mikhail Abramov
and
Adam Gaudette
and draft picks, one week after trading forward Vladimir Tarasenko and defenseman Niko Mikkola to the New York Rangers.
"Just OK," St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. "They got a couple power-play goals, that was the difference probably. We weren't bad. We could be better.
"Just the whole situation that went down with the trade]. I didn't see the same energy and fight that we've had lately."
Bowen Byram scored twice, Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist, and
[Justus Annunen
made 19 saves in his first start of the season for the Avalanche (30-19-5), who are 3-0-1 in their past four games and 10-2-2 in their past 14. Nathan MacKinnon, Samuel Girard and J.T. Compher each had two assists.
"It was a big game for us," Colorado forward Artturi Lehkonen said. "The first leg of the back to back, we wanted to keep that going, what we started in Minnesota (a 3-2 win Wednesday), got a big two points."

Sammy Blais scored, and Jordan Binnington made 29 saves for the Blues (26-26-3), whose three-game winning streak ended.
"Yeah, it's one of the tougher trades I've definitely dealt with," St. Louis forward Brayden Schenn said. "I've known [O'Reilly] since I've been 17 and obviously played some Canada events and many good years here. He's a guy that comes to the rink and lots of laughing and joking with him. On the flip side of that, he demands a lot of out of his teammates and works extremely hard and pulls guys into the fight each and every night. Guys like that are obviously great to play with.
"Shocking seeing the news about both of those guys going early, two character guys that ... I guess shocking when you saw it, but I guess it's been talked about for so long, it doesn't really come to a shock with two weeks before the (2023 NHL Trade Deadline on March 3). Obviously two great team guys and Toronto got two guys that know what it takes to win."
Rantanen's first goal in six games was also his 200th in the NHL, a one-timer from the right face-off circle that gave Colorado a 1-0 lead at 16:37 of the first period.
Byram made it 2-0 at 7:37 of the second period, a shot from the left circle that rode up and off the stick of Blues defenseman Colton Parayko.
"It's part of what our identity is," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "Our [defensemen] have always been active participants in our offense. 'Bo's' obviously missed some time, but getting back up to speed, we're starting to see him contribute a little bit more."

Blais cut it to 2-1 at 15:28 of the second with his second goal since being acquired from the Rangers in the Tarasenko trade.
Valeri Nichushkin's power-play goal made it 3-1 at 2:56 of the third when he redirected a rebound from near the top of the crease. The play was reviewed for a kicking motion, but Nichushkin played it with his skate off his stick and deflected it past Binnington.
Byram's one-timer from the right circle during a man-advantage made it 4-1 at 9:40 of the third period.
"It's been stale a little bit here recently," Bednar said of the power play. "I think it's trying to be too cute and looking for the perfect play. We just encouraged them after the second to shoot the puck, make sure your work ethic and competitiveness is where it needs to be and just getting more competitive, more simple, shoot it and go to the net."
NOTES:Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar returned after missing four games with a head injury; he played 21:27 and was plus-1. ... Pavel Buchnevich left in the second period with a lower-body injury. Berube said the forward will not accompany the Blues to their game at the Ottawa Senators on Sunday. ... MacKinnon has nine points (four goals, five assists) in a four-game point streak and 46 points (17 goals, 29 assists) in 42 games against St. Louis. ... Rantanen (462 games) became the fourth-fastest Finland-born player in NHL history to reach 200 goals, trailing only Teemu Selanne (322 games), Jari Kurri (328) and Tomas Sandstrom (456). ... Blues defenseman Torey Krug missed the game with an undisclosed injury; he was replaced by Robert Bortuzzo, who had been a healthy scratch the previous four games. ... Forward Logan Brown, who had an assist, and forward Josh Leivo replaced O'Reilly and Acciari in the lineup. ... The Blues recalled Matthew Highmore and Nikita Alexandrov from Springfield of the American Hockey League on Saturday. Both forwards will join the team in Ottawa.