Kadri scores with 0.1 seconds left, Avalanche defeat Blues in round-robin

Nazem Kadri scored a power-play goal with 0.1 seconds left in the third period to give the Colorado Avalanche a 2-1 win against the St. Louis Blues in the opening game of the round-robin portion of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Sunday.

Kadri knocked the puck into the net in the final second after Gabriel Landeskog shot it off the left post. The goal was confirmed after a video review.

"It was a bit of an extended power-play shift there, but we felt like we had possession, we had pressure," Kadri said. "It was just a relentless effort by the guys. I felt like I should have had one earlier that I kind of whiffed on, and it was nice to get it back."

WATCH: [All Blues vs. Avalanche highlights]

Ryan Graves scored and Philipp Grubauer made 31 saves for the Avalanche, who will also play the Dallas Stars (Wednesday) and Vegas Golden Knights (Saturday) in Edmonton, the Western Conference hub city.

"We feel like we can go and play with and beat anyone," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "If we didn't feel that way, then we shouldn't be here. That game tonight could've gone either way. We had a real good start. I think they were the better team in the second, [and] the third was really exciting. We traded chances, there was a lot going on. We're fortunate to come out on top.

"The next challenge will be Dallas and Vegas, and those two teams should feel the same way we do, the same way St. Louis does."

David Perron scored and Jordan Binnington made 36 saves for the Blues, who will play Vegas on Thursday and Dallas on Aug. 9 to determine seeding for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

"I knew it was close," St. Louis center Ryan O'Reilly said of Kadri's goal. "Obviously, they looked at it enough. It's frustrating to lose like that, especially when [Binnington] played outstanding and (would have given) us a chance to win it in OT. It's a frustrating play. It is what it is, though, and we have to find a way to respond.

"[Binnington] didn't miss a beat. For how bad we played when we started, he's the reason why we had a chance to win. If we're better in front of him, we're a great team. We have to find a way to help him a lot more. Just save after save. We need to help out more."

The Blues were outshot 16-4 in the first period but took a 1-0 lead at 16:46 on Perron's power-play goal, a one-timer from the left face-off circle off a pass from Brayden Schenn.

"In the first period, we were just on our heels, didn't make enough plays, we gave the puck back too much," St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. "They had good jump early and [Binnington] was good, but we gave up too many shots in the first. We got our game going in the second; we played pretty well in the second and third. I'm pretty pleased with a lot of it, but we have to get better."

Graves tied it 1-1 at 5:33 of the third period when he sent a shot from the left hash marks past Binnington after fumbling a pass from Mikko Rantanen.

"A quick 3-on-2 break and I was just kind of supporting it, following, and their (defenseman) pushed Mikko out, he made a nice play to me," Graves said. "I was trying to go to Mikko and I fumbled it. Obviously it worked out, made a Grade A shot. A lot of things just worked out."

After facing four shots in the first, Grubauer made 28 saves over the final 40 minutes, including 15 in the third period.

Grubauer said playing two periods in a 3-2 exhibition win against the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday -- he saved 18 of 20 shots -- was significant after he missed the final 13 games of the regular season with a lower-body injury.

"I think the last game was really helpful to get that intensity going and to get that edge going," Grubauer said. "The first period today was a little bit of a weird one; there were not too many shots, (but) the guys did an unbelievable job of putting everything to the outside. That made it easy for me. I felt pretty good today even though it's been a while."

Bednar has said he plans to play Grubauer and Pavel Francouz in the round-robin games before deciding on a starter for the playoffs.

"Grubauer tonight, he was excellent," Bednar said. "It's a perfect shot that beats him on the first one, and after that he doesn't give up anything. He's a gamer. He made some big saves at the right times in the third period for us when they got dangerous."

The seeds for the Stanley Cup Playoffs will be determined by points in the round-robin, with regular-season points percentage being the tiebreaker.

NHL.com staff writer Tracey Myers contributed to this report