Eurolanche

Avs beat Blues in the shootouts

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Avalanche (25-21-3) have won three in a row to move.

The Avalanche thought they tied the game at 6:16 of the third period when Carl Soderberg poked the puck into the net from underneath Elliott, but referee Kelly Sutherland immediately waved it off.

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.

Elliott reached out to smother the puck with his glove to prevent Duchene from getting to it after Nick Holden had a shot on goal at 9:49 of the second period, and he fell on the puck at 14:37 before Soderberg could poke it in after Landeskog was stopped.

He also stopped John Mitchell in the slot on an Avalanche power play at 15:20 of the first period. 

-- by Rick Sadowski for NHL.com --