I want to say Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all. Have a safe, fun and restful holiday. My next blog won't be until Friday. The Avalanche won't be on the ice again until the Saturday morning skate before that night's game against Chicago.
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The Avalanche head into the holiday break with their first three-game winning streak of the season following an impressive 5-0 win Tuesday night against St. Louis at the Pepsi Center to reach the .500 mark (13-13-8) for the first time this season.
Goalie Semyon Varlamov wasn't tested much in the first two periods and received plenty of offensive support. But he made 12 of his 26 saves in the third period for his second shutout of the season, 11th as a member of the Avalanche and 15th of his NHL career.
Not bad for a guy who hadn't played since Dec. 5.
"We played really well," coach Patrick Roy said. "We were solid in the three zones. I thought we were moving the puck really well and our decision making was just great."
The win was Varlamov's first since Nov. 15 against New Jersey and improved his record to 5-6-5. He lowered his goals-against average to 3.01 and raised his save percentage to .913.
"It does feel good," said Varlamov, who stopped Paul Stastny on a 2-on-1 rush midway through the third period. "We played a real solid game the whole 60 minutes. It is much easier to play when the guys score lots of goals. I feel well. The doctors did a great job for me, also conditioning. I felt good, I'm healthy and ready to go."
The Avalanche are 4-0-2 in their past six games and moved into fifth place in the Western Conference, seven points (41-34) behind Los Angeles, which holds the second wild card playoff position.
"It's big," said Erik Johnson, who scored a first-period goal, stretching his goal-scoring streak to three games. "We've flirted with those two-game winning streaks and never got past that to get to three. Getting back to .500 is good for the squad. We knew we weren't playing as well as we could earlier, but this is some of the best hockey we've played. We have to make sure we continue it and know the things we're doing right that's making us successful."
Zach Redmond scored a power-play goal in the first period and the Avalanche scored three times in the second: Ryan O'Reilly had a power-play goal and Jarome Iginla and Alex Tanguay scored at even strength. The Avalanche outshot the Blues 17-7 in the second period and 41-26 for the game.
Jake Allen started in goal for the Blues and was replaced at the start of the third period by future Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur. Allen faced 31 shots, Brodeur 10.
"We talked this morning about the schedule, how tough it is right now and it's a good challenge for our team," Roy said. "Tonight we responded well to it. It was important to win a big game at home, that's what I was looking at. Beating these guys 5-0, it was an off-night for them, but we played really well."
The Avalanche are 7-7-3 at home and 6-6-5 in road games.
Johnson, who had two goals against the Blues on Dec. 13 in the Avalanche's 3-2 overtime loss, has five goals in the past five games. His nine goals are one short of the career high he set with the Blues in 2009-10.
"It felt good to play a good game from start to finish, really solid," he said. "It felt good to contribute. It was a really good effort, top to bottom, every guy. We had a little bit of a lull in the third, but we played really good."
Varlamov, a Vezina Trophy finalist last season, continued to give the Avalanche the kind of strong goaltending they received from rookie Calvin Pickard while he missed six games with a groin injury.
"Our goaltending has been really, really good," said Iginla, who had a goal and an assist. "Picks came in and did a phenomenal job and with Varly back we're very excited to get him back feeling good. He's a big part of the team and for him to go out and play the way he did tonight ... it was a good game for us, we played well, but he made some big stops."
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Roy said he isn't worried about having the team's momentum put on hold with three days away from the rink until the next game, Saturday against the Blackhawks.
"No. We have three nice days off and have given ourselves a nice gift before Christmas," he said. "We're playing .500 hockey for the first time of the year. Now let's look ahead and get ready for Chicago."
Roy said Tuesday morning that Pickard would start in goal Saturday.
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Defenseman Brad Stuart was honored in a pregame ceremony for playing in his 1,000th NHL game last Thursday in Pittsburgh. He was presented with a commemorative Rolex watch, a Tiffany crystal and silver stick.
Stuart responded with his first two points of the season, both assists, and four blocked shots in 21:03 of playing time. He also helped kill off three Blues power plays.
"I was very impressed with Brad Stuart," Roy said. "He had two assists and blocked a lot of shots. He's been helping our blue line big time since he's been back."