ST. LOUIS — Ryan O’Reilly scored a shorthanded goal at 2:05 of overtime to give the St. Louis Blues a 4-3 win against the Colorado Avalanche at Enterprise Center on Friday.
O’Reilly scored on a breakaway after Vladimir Tarasenko was called for playing with an illegal stick at 1:31. Robert Bortuzzo blocked Tyson Barrie‘s shot from the point and pushed the puck with a backhand into the neutral zone, where O’Reilly collected it before beating Avalanche goalie Philipp Grubauer blocker side.
“I didn’t have eyes on the puck yet until I saw it at the center of the ice, and then I saw Barrie was kind of off balance so I just took off,” said O’Reilly, who was selected by the Avalanche in the second round (No. 33) in the 2009 NHL Draft. “… I got my full speed there and I’m thinking just make a move and elevate it there. The ice is kind of bad, so I’m just trying to settle it, make a quick play and get it up. It worked on that play.
[WATCH: All Avalanche vs. Blues highlights]
“We showed good maturity tonight, resilience. It was an up-and-down game.”
Video: COL@STL: Parayko hammers one-timer past Grubauer
Colton Parayko scored twice, Ivan Barbashev scored, and Jake Allen made 39 saves for St. Louis (12-14-4), which has won two in a row and is 3-1-1 in its past five games.
“Great finish there by Ryan O’Reilly,” Blues coach Craig Berube said. “Well rewarded by a guy that played hard all night and had a tough job and did a great job. I thought that the penalty kill was excellent again.”
J.T. Compher had a goal and an assist, Sven Andrighetto and Matt Calvert scored, and Grubauer made 24 saves for Colorado (17-9-6), which has lost three in a row (0-2-1).
Mikko Rantanen had an assist to extend his point streak to 13 games (six goals, 18 assists).
“We’re on a power play. We’ve got our best players on the ice on a 4-on-3 power play and we give up a breakaway,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “It should be us putting a dagger through them and getting two points.”
Grubauer said he should have stopped O’Reilly.
“It was a breakaway. I was trying to make the save,” Grubauer said. “That’s all I saw and that was the goal. Can’t happen but I’ve also got to make the save. We still got a point out of it and the next game’s tomorrow. We’ve got to make sure we win that.”
Parayko gave the Blues a 3-2 lead at 11:00 of the third period as a power play expired, but Compher scored a power-play goal on a rebound in the slot at 13:10 to tie it 3-3.
Parayko scored to make it 1-0 at 3:24 of the first period on a one-timer from the point, but Andrighetto tied it 1-1 at 5:42.
Calvert scored with a backhand on a wraparound at 9:48 to give the Avalanche a 2-1 lead.
Barbashev tied it 2-2 with 41 seconds remaining in the first period, converting a cross-crease pass from Jay Bouwmeester.
Video: COL@STL: Barbashev finishes feed from Bouwmeester
They said it
“Well, it’s a good point. You’re trailing, and I didn’t think we were great and our execution wasn’t great, but we worked, so to get a point was great.” — Avalanche coach Jared Bednar
“I just think tonight I felt I had some opportunities when I got the puck in good areas.” — Blues defenseman Colton Parayko
Video: COL@STL: Parayko slaps home his second of the game
Need to know
Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon had an assist and has 22 points (eight goals, 14 assists) in his past 13 games. … Landeskog had his five-game point streak end. … St. Louis also defeated Colorado in overtime (3-2) in the first game of the season between the two teams on Nov. 30. … O’Reilly has 11 points (two goals, nine assists) in eight games against the Avalanche. … Compher’s power-play goal ended the Blues’ streak of 23 straight penalty kills. … Tarasenko was called for the penalty in overtime because he picked up Parayko’s stick, which is specially made for players at least 6-foot-6, and while there’s a special exemption in place for players that height to use longer sticks, that doesn’t allow another player to use it to play the puck. Parayko said, “I thought we were going to go down the ice with wrong-handed sticks maybe. I had no idea that was even a rule. I don’t think any of us really did. … We’ve had a couple weird things in this building.”
What’s next
Avalanche: Host the Dallas Stars on Saturday (9 p.m. ET; ALT, FS-SW, NHL.TV)
Blues: Host the Calgary Flames on Sunday (3 p.m. ET; FS-MW, SNW, NHL.TV)
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