If there is such a thing as a "good" point, and I think there is, then you have to consider the point the Avalanche picked up Saturday in St. Louis as a "good" one.
Down 2-0 in the third period on the road after two goals by Vladimir Tarasenko , the Avalanche got power-play goals from Ryan O'Reilly and Nathan MacKinnon, who assisted on each other's goals, to get to overtime and eventually a shootout.
Erik Johnson assisted on both goals, played 25:58, had four shots and three blocked shots against his former team.
Unfortunately, overtimes and shootouts haven't been good at all for Colorado, unlike a year ago. Joakim Lindstrom scored in the second round to give the Blues a 3-2 win as the Avalanche fell to a combined 0-5 in overtimes and shootouts.
The Avalanche have picked up at least one point in six consecutive games (2-0-4) and are 3-4-5 overall.
"We haven't scored one in a shootout and we're going to have to put some in if we want to win those games," Avalanche coach Patrick Roy told reporters. "But I like our game. I liked the urgency we showed in the third period. We didn't give up. We kept going."
Blues goalie Brian Elliott (27 saves) stopped Gabriel Landeskog, Matt Duchene and O'Reilly in the shootout. Duchene and Alex Tanguay didn't score against San Jose's Antti Niemi in Tuesday's 3-2 shootout loss to the Sharks.
Roy said Semyon Varlamov, who stopped 27 shots against the Blues, will be in goal again Sunday night against Anaheim at the Pepsi Center. I thought Reto Berra would get the call because of back-to-back games, but Varlamov has been playing extremely well. Varlamov has a 2-2-4 record for the season with a 2.42 goals-against average and .934 save percentage.
Colorado has gone 0-2-3 in the past five road games, but special teams have been effective. The Avalanche have gone 7-for-22 on power plays in the past six games overall and they've killed 20 consecutive penalties in a five-game stretch.
As for playing a Ducks team that arrived in Denver in time to practice Saturday, Roy said the schedule evens out in the end. He pointed out that Vancouver played the night before the Avalanche waxed them 7-3 a week ago.
"These things happen to everybody," Roy said. "(Sunday) it's us. It's the way the schedule is made. Let's not find excuses. Let's be ready for that game. I think (the Ducks) are playing three in four nights."
Sunday's game will be the third in four nights for the Ducks, and the fourth game in six nights to complete their road trip.
***** I highly recommend you check out Save by Roy, an in-depth look at the Avalanche's surprising 2013-14 season. It can be purchased on amazon.com and will be available wherever books are sold Nov. 5. It's written by Denver Post sports reporters Adrian Dater and Terry Frei.