Blues offense erupts in win against Avalanche

ST. LOUIS-- The St. Louis Blues came at the Colorado Avalanche in waves during the first period and thrived on momentum.
The Blues felt they had been playing well enough to break out of a slump that saw them score two or fewer goals in six straight games, and it came together in a 5-1 win against the Avalanche at Scottrade Center on Sunday.
"First period today was the best period we've played all year," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock. "Just our puck pursuit, our tenacity, our secondary forecheck was excellent. ... Looked like a team that was right on the mark.

WATCH: All Avalance vs. Blues highlights
"We could have really put it away in the first period. When you're drawing up the game plan, that's exactly the way you want. I was really happy the way we played in the first period."
The Blues (7-4-2), who defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-1 in overtime Saturday, got goals from Robby Fabbri, Jori Lehtera, Jaden Schwartz, Scottie Upshall and David Perron. Kevin Shattenkirk had three assists, and goalie Jake Allen made 22 saves.
"It was a good feeling when you saw one line go out and have a great shift and we were following it and not taking any shifts off," Fabbri said. "It was great to see us doing that for three periods."
The Avalanche (5-6-0) were coming off a 1-0 win against the Minnesota Wild at home on Saturday. Matt Duchene scored and goalie Semyon Varlamov stopped 20 on 25 shots before being replaced at the start of the third period by Calvin Pickard, who made three saves.

The Avalanche have scored three goals the past four games.
"If you're on your heels and defending all night and our compete level wasn't quite like it needed to be, it gets pretty tough," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "You've got to have everybody going. Tonight we didn't."
The Blues scored in the first period for the first time in seven games and did so twice in a span of 1:58.
Fabbri scored off a 2-on-1 with Dmitrij Jaskin and beat Varlamov short side 1:37 into the game to give the Blues a 1-0 lead.
Lehtera put the Blues ahead 2-0 when he took Carl Gunnarsson's pass in the slot and sent a quick shot over Varlamov at 3:35 of the first.
The Avalanche got to within 2-1 when Duchene tipped Francois Beauchemin's point shot at 6:38 of the second period.
The Blues scored three straight in 4:12 during the second. Schwartz tipped Alexander Steen's shot at 14:54 that broke a 0-for-19 power-play drought. Upshall's slap shot from the right circle at 17:03 made it 4-1, and Perron scored his first goal in seven games at 19:06 to make it 5-1.

Goal of the game

The Blues' fourth line isn't known for its scoring, but it was on par with three guys doing their jobs to set up Upshall's goal. Kyle Brodziak checked the puck off for a turnover, Ryan Reaves made the cross-ice backhand feed and Upshall's one-timer finished it off.

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Save of the game

Allen didn't have a particular busy night, but he came up with his best save after moving from right to left to kick out forward Rene Bouque's wrist shot with 11:56 remaining.

Highlight of the game

Gunnarsson made a smart play by being patient. In doing so, he was able to calmly slip the puck to Lehtera in the slot to help the Blues take a 2-0 lead and ride the early momentum in the game.

Unsung moment of the game

The Avalanche had grabbed momentum in the second period, but Reaves helped turn it back around for the Blues by inducing a tripping penalty on Colorado defenseman Patrick Wiercioch at 14:09 to help set up a power-play goal.

They said it

"It felt like it was my first goal like I got last year. Just get that weight off the shoulders. Just keep building off that now and keep going." -- Blues left wing Robbie Fabbri
"I draw the penalty because I can't skate and then I blacked out on the pass." -- Blues right wing Ryan Reaves joking about chipping in offensively
"You saw what happened. I gave up five goals. It is my fault; I'll take [the blame]." -- Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov

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Need to know

Colorado right wing Blake Comeau (groin) did not play and was replaced by Cody McLeod. ... There was a moment of silence for former Avalanche forward Marek Svatos, who died Saturday at age 34. ... Blues defenseman Joel Edmundson sustained an upper-body injury in the first period and did not return. "I would say this is going to be a little past days," Hitchcock said. "It's not going to be day to day here. It's going to be a little more extended than that."

What's next

Avalanche: Host the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET; ALT2, FS-A PLUS, NHL.TV)
Blues: Host the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV)