Binnington's 45 saves help Blues cool off Avalanche

DENVER --Jordan Binnington made 45 saves, and the St. Louis Blues withstood a late rally from the Colorado Avalanche for a 3-2 win at Ball Arena on Monday.

The Avalanche had a 5-on-3 power play for the final 1:44 of the game, eventually making it a 6-on-3 after pulling Alexandar Georgiev with less than a minute left.
"That's probably not the look you want to give up, especially against this team in the last two minutes, but can't give enough credit to those three guys out there and 'Binner,'" Blues forward Robert Thomas said. "They did an amazing job keeping their chances to kind of the outside, and Binner made some huge saves. What a way to close it."

During the penalty kill, Binnington preserved the win by getting across the crease and robbing Cale Makar on a one-timer from the left circle with 1:16 remaining. Makar then had a look at a wide-open net with 25 seconds left but opted to pass up to the point instead.
"Guys battled and did a good job. 'Binner' made a big save there," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "Guys laid it on the line."
Thomas had a goal and an assist, and Pavel Buchnevich had two assists for the Blues (6-8-0), who have won three straight after losing their previous eight games.
"I thought we got real good contributions from everybody tonight. Everybody really was dialed in, competed hard," Berube said. "It was really good to see, and our defense was solid. They played hard. They did a good job defending and broke pucks out and battled."
Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist, and Makar had two assists for the Avalanche (8-5-1), who had won four straight. Georgiev made 36 saves.
"I feel like we did a lot of good things. We did the right things to win that game," Makar said. "Just a couple unfortunate errors by me, and an unfortunate bounce off my stick and in the net. Like I said, that's hockey. You're going to probably get those back at some point, but for us, definitely an easily winnable game. I feel like we did everything right. Just didn't come out with it."
Rantanen gave Colorado a 1-0 lead at 11:29 of the second period when he received a drop pass from Nathan MacKinnon and scored off the post and in from above the right face-off circle.

Thomas tied it 1-1 at 13:49 on a breakaway after his shot hit off the crossbar, bounced back off Georgiev's right skate and redirected into the net.
"I got it where I wanted to, up top on the right side, and yeah, just got a good bounce," Thomas said. "It's great play by everyone. [Justin Faulk] made a good breakout pass. [Vladimir Tarasenko] makes a great play to [Buchnevich], and 'Bucci' makes a great play to me, and I was just fortunate to get a bounce there and it go in. So great play by those three guys."
Saad scored for the third straight game to make it 2-1 at 18:59. He curled out from behind the net and sent a centering pass that deflected off Makar's stick toward the net, where it squeezed past Georgiev's left skate and the post.
"I kind of just got around the net and saw [Josh] Leivo backdoor," Saad said. "I was trying to throw it backdoor to Leivo there, and I just got a bounce. I knew we had space and just tried to make a quick play, and it was a fortunate bounce."
Jordan Kyrou scored 13 seconds into the third period to extend the lead to 3-1, receiving a pass from Thomas while cutting down the right wall and scoring glove side on the power play.

Artturi Lehkonen cut the lead to 3-2 at 3:02 when he beat Binnington far side with a wrist shot from the left face-off dot on a power play.
"I felt like our intensity, like when the game was on the line, our attack mentality was probably better than it was at times during the game," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "But at the same time, I thought we created lots of chances, enough chances to win. Their goalie made some saves, we missed out on a few opportunities. It is what it is."
NOTES:Makar extended his point streak to six games (three goals, eight assists). … Rantanen has 16 points (eight goals, eight assists) during a six-game point streak. He also has 20 points (nine goals, 11 assists) in seven home games this season. … MacKinnon extended his point streak to six games (one goal, 13 assists).