Colorado Avalanche came out of the four nations’ facial outages with a strong all-round performance in Nashville on Saturday.
But after suffering a 2-1 loss for the predator, Avalanche will seek a better result on Sunday against the host St. Louis Blues.
Avalanche lost even though he held a 32-17 edge in shot against predators. Defender Sam Malinski scored the only goal for Colorado, and the Center Nathan Mackinnon was held by the result despite putting eight shots on goal.
“If I take out the result of it, I am actually really happy with how we played,” said avalanche coach Jared Bednar. “I thought it was a good continuation on the training days we had. Liked our energy, liked our ice skating, I felt we did a lot of gigs that came out of our zone. You know, we had a hard time making points Tonight, and we checked hard.
Avalanche saw 21 of its pictures blocked by Nashville.
“We did a good job of creating a good amount of chances,” Colorado said forward Ross Colton. “But we just have to carry down and take our eyes away and keep working, I guess.”
Avalanche defeated Blues 5-0 on January 31. Jonathan Drouin gathered two goals and one assist, while goalkeeper Mackenzie Blackwood got a suspension by stopping all 19 shots he met.
Scott Wedgewood started in goals for Colorado in Nashville, so Blackwood will probably get a new shot at Blues on Sunday.
Colorado began his latest two -game road trip without the Valeri Valeri Nichushkin and defender Josh Manson, both of which are on the side of lower bodily injuries.
Blues went 2-5-1 in their last eight games before the break. They returned to action to climb back to the Western Conference Playoff race.
“I want to see ourselves more aggressive on the presence, more aggressive to be narrow control in all three zones to create more turnover,” said coach Jim Montgomery. “And I also want us to handle adversities better than we did before.”
Blues played a solid match against Winnipeg Jets on Saturday and collected from a 2-1 deficit to take 3-2 lead during the third period.
But they gave up a late goal and got only one point in a loss of 4-3.
“When we looked at the glass half full, we came back during the third period,” Montgomery said. “And it was by far our best period. It’s the positive. When you get out of a long distance (of not playing) like this, you want to get better every period. The third period is our best period is a good sign.”
Montgomery said he was happy to see his top line play well get out of the break. Robert Thomas recorded two goals and one assist on Saturday, and Pavel Buchnevich scored one goal and set two others.
“They had a really good week with practice, that line,” Montgomery said. “They practiced really hard all three days. They were invested in practice and they were rewarded with how well they played.”
Joel Hofer started in goal against Jets, so Blues will probably turn to Jordan Binnington when he comes from his championship performance for Canada at the 4 National event.
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