Varlamov, Avalanche top Blues in shootout

DENVER -- Semyon Varlamov stopped all three St. Louis Blues shooters after Gabriel Landeskog scored the only goal in the shootout to give the Colorado Avalanche a 2-1 victory Friday at Pepsi Center.
Landeskog scored in the first round against Brian Elliott, who stopped Nathan MacKinnon and Matt Duchene in the second and third rounds. Elliott had 40 saves through overtime.

Varlamov, who made 33 saves, stopped Alexander Steen, Vladimir Tarasenko and Troy Brouwer in the Avalanche's first shootout of the season.
"I've been waiting a long time for those shootouts," Varlamov said. "The guys did an unbelievable job of scoring there at the end of the game."
MacKinnon scored with 53.7 seconds left in regulation to tie the game 1-1 after Varlamov went to the bench for a sixth attacker. Tyson Barrie passed to Duchene, who gave MacKinnon a centering pass into the left circle. MacKinnon shot the puck inside the near post for his 16th goal of the season.
When the teams played Jan. 6, MacKinnon scored with 1:29 left in the third period to tie the game in a 6-on-5 skating situation and Landeskog won it with 16.5 seconds remaining in the overtime.
"Usually goals to tie it in those empty-net games are kind of ugly," said MacKinnon, who had gone five games without a goal. "This one was, I guess, pretty. It's a huge goal for our team and Varly was big in the shootout and Gabe had a big goal as well.
"It was nice, I got a wide-open look from [Duchene], a nice pass from Tyson as well. I got a lucky bounce the last time I tied it up [against the Blues]. It was a great play by my teammates and I'm just happy it hit the net. Elliott was awesome, he made some tough saves. We peppered him."
The Avalanche, who went 0-for-3 on the power play, had a man advantage for the final 1:58 of overtime after Elliott was penalized for tripping.
"I wish we would have scored on that 4-on-3 and gotten an ROW win," Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said. "It was a hard-fought game, I thought it was very entertaining, I thought it was solid hockey. I was very happy with our performance, I was proud of our players."
Elliott was the backup for now-injured Jake Allen in the teams' previous game, but this one had a familiar ending.
"[On the] 6-on-5 they were kind of finding seams there," Elliott said. "They're good at that. I kind of had to front Duchene's shot and just kind of got tangled up in the pile trying to get back over. But it's a bang-bang play, tough. That's twice in this building.
"It's frustrating. You play 60 minutes like that, well, 59, and you don't come out with a win. It's frustrating, but it's a lesson that you have to put teams away."
Steen broke a scoreless tie at 17:57 of the second period with his 15th goal and second in three games. Brouwer intercepted a clearing attempt by Carl Soderberg and passed to Steen in the right circle. Steen beat Varlamov to the short side.
The Blues (28-15-8) are 3-0-1 in their past four games and 5-1-1 in their past seven. They pulled within four points of the Central Division-leading Chicago Blackhawks, who lost at the Florida Panthers.
"We're getting points," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "That's all that matters. Right now we're getting points. Got to take this one when it gets to a shootout on the road with what we're dealing with. Pretty happy."
The Avalanche (25-21-3) have won three in a row. They are 3-0-0 against the Blues and 11-3-1 against Central Division teams.
The Avalanche thought they tied the game at 6:16 of the third period when Soderberg poked the puck into the net from underneath Elliott, but referee Kelly Sutherland immediately waved it off.
"He thought the puck was in the corner, that's why he blew the whistle," Roy said. "We stayed focused, that's the thing I like about it. It could have been easy to panic and then be [upset] and find a zillion excuses to lose that game. We stuck to it and kept pushing and pushing."
Varlamov stopped Tarasenko on a breakaway at 1:07 of the third and Elliott made a save against Alex Tanguay, who was just outside the crease, at 10:10.
Elliott made four saves during a Colorado power play that began at 12:51 of the third after defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk was penalized for tripping Jack Skille.
Varlamov stopped Patrik Berglund from the bottom of the left circle at 5:00 of the second period, he made a right pad save against Robby Fabbri on a breakaway at 13:30 of the first, and a save on Berglund in the slot at 17:48.
Roy said after the game that defenseman Nikita Zadorov has been reassigned to the San Antonio Rampage in the American Hockey League to make room for Erik Johnson, who was activated from injured reserve. Johnson has missed nine games because of a lower-body injury and will play Saturday at the Dallas Stars.
The Blues visit the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.