Paul Stastny made his long awaited return to the Pepsi Center to play his former team tonight and came away with a victory after the Blues defeated Colorado 3-2 in overtime. The centerman signed a 4-year $28 million contract with St. Louis after spending eight years as an Av.
Stastny however was not a factor. He finished with just 12:34 total ice-time, 7th most among Blues forwards, and was left off of the scoresheet. Fellow American TJ Oshie scored the game-winner just 50 seconds into overtime to ruin a solid effort from Calvin Pickard between the pipes.
The Blues out-shot the Avs 42-25, including the only two shots in the short overtime period. Pickard made 39 saves in the losing effort but was still the story of the game. He found a way to keep his eye on the puck the entire night and swallowed every puck sent his way.
“Calvin was again solid for us. He’s taking advantage of this opportunity. We’re happy for him,” Coach Roy said about his young goaltender.
The Avs got on the boards first after Erik Johnson scored his first of two goals on the night. He blasted the puck from the point after getting a pass from Nick Holden. But the Avs would take a penalty on the ensuing play and the Blues answered back less than two minutes later with a power play goal of their own.
St. Louis went eight minutes in the first period without a shot but gained momentum late and never let up. After Pietrangelo would put the away team up a goal and Colorado needed someone to step up and get something going.
Once again it was Johnson. His goal with under two minutes to go in the period provided a massive boost for the Avs. It was his first career two-goal game and it came against the team that drafted and traded him as a young budding defenseman.
The teams put on a track meet in the third period. Rather than cutting the game down and playing conservative defensive hockey, the Blues and Avs each put 13 shots on goal in the final period. Pickard made numerous spectacular saves during the final 20 while Jake Allen was equally solid at the other end.
Colorado managed to squeeze out a point but lost for the seventh time in overtime. They have now lost both contests against the Blues this season and will face the very same team twice more before the new-year.
Despite being badly outshot, the Avs had a couple players step up big tonight. Pickard’s big night between the pipes certainly didn’t go unnoticed and neither did Johnson’s two goal effort. But one player that was strong and may have done so under the radar was Ryan O’Reilly.
O’Reilly was left off of the scoresheet tonight but not due to lack of trying. O’Reilly had two solid opportunities on the power play tonight but hit the post once and missed just wide on the second. He played a solid all-around game and finished the night with five takeaways.
O’Reilly finished with 21:31 of total ice-time tonight, first among forwards. He played heavy minutes on both the PP and PK, something that Coach Roy has done many times this season.
Aside from a few individual efforts, the Avs were beaten tonight by the better team. They will have four days off until their next contest and will have plenty to fix over the next week.
Thursday night Colorado embarks on a three game road trip before the holidays. They will travel to Pittsburgh for a night at the Consol Energy Center against a team ravaged by injuries but still atop the standings. The Penguins and Avs will drop the puck at 5 pm. MT.
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