EDMONTON, Alberta _ Colorado dominated the first period outshooting the Blues 16-4, but it was the St. Louis that left the first period with a 1-0 lead in their round-robin opener at Rogers Place.
And even though both teams had two power plays in the second period, there was no scoring. So the Blues took a 1-0 lead into the third period in their first postseason game of 2019-20.
But on a power play with the final seconds winding down in the third period, Nazem Kadri's shot as time expired gave the Avalanche a 2-1 win over the Blues. The officiating crew looked at the review for several minutes, finally deeming it good with one-tenth _ that's right, one-tenth of a second left.
But after Colton Parayko fanned on a shot attempt at one end, Colorado burst out of their zone with an odd-man rush. Ryan Graves finished off a 3-on-2 break with a goal 5 { minutes into the third period to tie the game at 1-1.
St. Louis didn't get a shot on goal until more than 10 minutes had gone by at the outset and they were outshot 15-2 when Gabriel Landeskog was sent off for interfering with Vince Dunn _ a surprise starter on defense for the Blues _ with 3:33 left in the period.
It took only 19 seconds on the Blues' first power play of the night for David Perron to get all of one-timer from just inside the left circle to break a scoreless tie. Jaden Schwartz was in front of the night and waved his stick in an attempt at a deflection.
Schwartz didn't get the puck, but he may have distracted Avalanche goalie Philipp Grubauer, whose glove hand got up late on a riser to the far corner of the net.
Perron tied for the Blues' regular-season goal lead with 25, sharing that with Brayden Schenn.
Jordan Binnington was razor sharp in goal, making big saves on Matt Calvert and Vladislav Namestnikov over the final six minutes of the first period.
Play evened up in the second period, with the Blues outshooting Colorado 13-10. But the Avs will open the third period with 1:54 on the power play after Carl Gunnarsson was sent off late for slashing.
