Have to give the Avalanche some credit here. Their chances of making the playoffs remain slim, but they went into Nashville on Monday and knocked off a very good Predators team 4-3.
Coach Patrick Roy reunited the Gabriel Landeskog-Carl Soderberg-Blake Comeau line, and the unit combined for two goals and two assists. He also changed two defense pairings, putting rookie Chris Bigras with Erik Johnson, and Nikita Zadorov with Francois Beauchemin.
A win Tuesday in St. Louis coupled with a regulation loss at home by Minnesota against Chicago would pull the Avalanche within one point of the Wild again with five games to go.
A longshot, considering the Blues have posted shutouts in four consecutive games -- two against Vancouver, one each against San Jose and Washington -- and the Wild have won all four previous games against the Blackhawks.
Here are the GAME NOTES.
Blues goalie Brian Elliott, who couldn't stop a beach ball in his brief time with the Avalanche, will be going for his fourth shutout in a row after Jake Allen blanked the Capitals on Saturday. The modern-day NHL record for consecutive shutouts by a team is five, set by the Phoenix (now Arizona) Coyotes and Brian Boucher Dec. 31, 2003 - Jan. 9, 2004.
Semyon Varlamov will be in goal again for the Avalanche, who have won four consecutive road games, pushing their season road record to 22-16-0. They'd be in the playoffs with that kind of home record.
The Avalanche are 3-0-0 against the Blues, with a win in regulation, overtime and a shootout. They've gone 6-3-1 in the first game when playing back-to-back, 6-3-0 in the second game.
The Avalanche were solid in Nashville ... for two periods and part of the third. Shawn Matthias' third-period goal gave them a 4-1 lead before they surrendered two goals 24 seconds apart, turning the game into another nail biter. The Predators outshot them 16-5 in the period.
We all learned a long time ago that no lead is safe, and you can't expect them to score four times against this Blues team, especially without Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon.
Roy said that Duchene skated Sunday in Colorado for the first time since hurting his knee March 16 against Vancouver. There should be more updates after the Avalanche get home. Wednesday is expected to be an off day, with the next practice Thursday before Friday's home game against Washington.
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The Colorado chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association has nominated Soderberg for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, which is awarded to the NHL player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.
Soderberg, 30, has tied his career high for points in a season (48) with 12 goals and 36 assists. He has been legally blind in his left eye since getting hit with a stick eight years ago while playing in Sweden.
The Avalanche acquired Soderberg from Boston last June 25 for a sixth-round pick in the 2016 NHL draft. About to become an unrestricted free agent at the time, Soderberg signed a five-year, $23.75 million contract.
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The Avalanche lineup:
FORWARDS Gabriel Landeskog - Carl Soderberg - Blake Comeau Mikkel Boedker - Mikhail Grigorenko - Shawn Matthias Andreas Martinsen - John Mitchell - Jarome Iginla Cody McLeod - Andrew Agozzino - Jack Skille
DEFENSE Chris Bigras - Erik Johnson Nick Holden - Tyson Barrie Nikita Zadorov - Francois Beauchemin
GOALIES Semyon Varlamov Calvin Pickard