MacKinnon has two points, Avalanche hold off Blues

DENVER --Cale Makar set the Colorado Avalanche record for goals by a rookie defenseman in a 5-3 win against the St. Louis Blues at Pepsi Center on Saturday.

Makar passed John-Michael Liles (2003-04) when he scored his 11th of the season at 16:26 of the second period to make it 3-2.
"I'm very honored and stuff, (but) it's not something that I'm going to go home and celebrate," Makar said. "It's a credit to how well these guys have been playing. We have so many smart players on this team in terms of hockey sense and that's why everybody's been producing so well and getting career highs."
WATCH: [All Blues vs. Avalanche highlights]
Andre Burakovsky scored two goals, and Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist, and Philipp Grubauer made 21 saves for the Avalanche (27-15-6), who have won two in a row after losing four straight (0-2-2).

"They won the Stanley Cup last year, so they're automatically going to be the measuring stick for every team that plays them," said Colorado defenseman Ian Cole, who had two assists. "They had our number earlier in the year when we played a little loose, a little wide open, and they made us pay for it. We've made a conscious effort to get it together and play a little more connected."
Alex Pietrangelo and David Perron each had a goal and an assist for the Blues (30-11-8), who had their six-game point streak end in their final game before the All-Star break (4-0-2). Jordan Binnington allowed four goals on 11 shots before being replaced in the second period by Jake Allen, who made six saves.
"We're frustrated, but these are the times when you look at the big picture, and the big picture is we've put ourselves in a good spot here for the second half of the season," Pietrangelo said. "Good opportunity to take a break, rest up."
MacKinnon gave Colorado a 1-0 lead at 3:41 of the first period when he received a pass through the crease from Samuel Girard and shot into an open net.
Perron tied it 1-1 at 18:04, scoring from the right face-off circle off a pass from Ryan O'Reilly on the power play.

Oskar Sundqvist put St. Louis ahead 2-1 at 1:06 of the second period. O'Reilly spun around to pass to Sundqvist, who cut through the slot before tucking in a shot inside the right post.
Burakovsky tied it 2-2 at 7:48.

After Makar made it 3-2, Burakovsky extended the lead to 4-2 at 16:48 with a shot short side from the right circle on Binnington, who was pulled following the goal.
"It is what it is, put them up by two," Binnington said. "It was unfortunate. We regrouped, we responded, and we had a pretty good third period and made a pretty good push."

Pietrangelo cut it to 4-3 at 7:23 of the third period off a cross-ice pass from Perron, but Gabriel Landeskog scored into an empty net with two seconds remaining for the 5-3 final.
"We come into here, it's a tough place to play and they're a very good team, I thought that we played a pretty solid game," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "We didn't win, but our guys are dialed in. A break is OK right now. When we come back, it's a tough schedule. Got to be ready to go."

They said it

"It was more of a quality over quantity game tonight, and they capitalized on their chances. I got to be there to make some big saves for them when we needed it and, unfortunately, it's a tough way to go into the break for me, but it is what it is. We'll just get some time away and come back regrouped."-- Blues goalie Jordan Binnington
"I liked our jump, our skating. We had good energy in our locker room before the game and it carried over onto the ice. I think we were committed on both sides. Our commitment to defend in some heaviness and competitiveness, it was all there. We got some timely goals, some big goals from some guys that haven't scored in a while, so you see a little confidence come back and hopefully we see some confidence come back even more." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar

Need to know

Burakovsky's goal was his first since Dec. 18 (14 games). … MacKinnon has 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in his past nine games. … Perron has nine points (five goals, four assists) in his past seven games. … Blues defenseman Carl Gunnarsson had two shots on goal and two blocked shots in 11:45 after missing the previous 15 games (14 because of an arm injury, scratched against the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday).

What's next

Blues:At the Vancouver Canucks on Jan. 27 (10 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SNP, FS-MW, NHL.TV)
Avalanche:Host the Detroit Red Wings on Monday (3 p.m. ET; NHLN, ALT, FS-D, NHL.TV)