Eurolanche

Surging Blues against Avalanche

Season series: The St. Louis Blues have won three of four against the Colorado Avalanche, including a 3-0 victory on Dec. 29. Martin Brodeur's 16 saves helped him earn his NHL-record 125th shutout.

Avalanche team scope: Colorado earned a point out of its 3-2 shootout loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday when forward Nathan MacKinnon scored with seven seconds remaining in regulation. But Lightning forward Ryan Callahan spoiled the Avalanche's comeback bid by scoring on goalie Semyon Varlamov in the third round of the shootout. "We had a lot of chances tonight," MacKinnon said after the game. "It's a tough loss but we battled back; we were down 9-0 in shots early but we came back and put a lot of pressure on them." The Avalanche, who had off Sunday, will complete the last of a five-game trip against the Blues. They are 1-1-2 after the loss Saturday but have earned four of a possible eight points. Colorado is 0-1-1 at St. Louis this season.

Blues team scope: St. Louis has six wins in its past seven games (6-0-1) and is 4-0-1 during a seven-game homestand after shutting out the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-0 on Saturday behind goalie Brian Elliott's 27-save effort, his 19th shutout in a Blues uniform and 28th of his NHL career. Alexander Steen, David Backes and T.J. Oshie continued their torrid scoring pace with five points. Steen extended his points streak to nine games (seven goals, eight assists) with a goal and an assist. Backes has a six-game point streak (seven goals, six assists) and Oshie had a goal. The trio has 49 points in 11 games. "They're good players that play the game the right way," coach Ken Hitchcock said. "They trust their checking, which is again how they got chances [Saturday] ... lots of them. When you trust your checking and you've got good players who can finish, hopefully you're going to end up on the right side of things."

-by Louie Korac for NHL-