Well, that sure was ugly.
Sure was a statement game, all right. The St. Louis Blues showed just how good they can be Thursday night and how far the Avalanche has yet to go in order to compete for one of the three guaranteed playoff spots in the Central Division.
It was only one game and it was played at the Scottrade Center, where the Blues are now 8-1-2 and have gotten off to the best start to a season in their history at 12-2-3. But their 7-3 hammering of the Avalanche wasn't due to bad breaks or bad bounces or anything like that.
Bad penalties and bad penalty killing on the part of the Avalanche? Bad goaltending? Guilty on all counts.
"You know what? We lost the first game and we're going to see them again and let's make sure we're ready for when we play them again, that's all," Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said. "There's nights like this. One thing I liked about our team, even if it was 7-1 or 7-2, we never stopped. We kept going at them. I think we just lost our focus, but I thought we had it back in the third."
After killing off all 19 opponents' power plays in the first six road games, the Avalanche gave up three goals on four chances against the Blues. Max Talbot, who was acquired for his penalty killing, took a hooking penalty 1:49 into the game and the Blues needed just five seconds for Derek Roy to score.
Rookie Nathan MacKinnon tied it up at 5:30 on an Avalanche power play with a shot from the right circle and the first period ended 1-1, so things weren't looking so bad.
It didn't take long for the Blues to seize control in the second period. Another early penalty, this one a hook by Erik Johnson at 2:41, preceded David Backes' goal eight seconds later after Marc-Andre Cliche lost a faceoff. Alexander Steen scored the first of his two goals at 7:16 after the Avalanche lost a battle for the puck behind the net, prompting Roy to replace goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere with Semyon Varlamov.
Varlamov didn't fare any better. Vladimir Tarasenko scored while driving to the net after taking a pass from Patrik Berglund, who outmuscled defenseman Nick Holden at the blue line; and Chris Stewart scored on another power play at 14:39 by knocking in the rebound of Kevin Shattenkirk's blast.
Shortly after, Stewart won a fight against Cory Sarich and pumped his arms in triumph to the crowd, obviously pleased to have beaten a guy who, at 35, is nine years older. Stewart was assessed an extra penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.
"It's a little gutless by him, but it's an emotional game and these things will happen," Giguere told reporters. "At the end of the day, this is not why we lost the game."
Two more fights ensued before the period ended. Matt Duchene, of all people, exchanged punches with Vladimir Sobotka, and Cody McLeod fought Ryan Reaves.
The Blues took a 5-1 lead into the third period -- Giguere was back in net -- when the teams traded goals. Steen and Jay Bouwmeester connected for the Blues, Duchene and Ryan O'Reilly for the Avalanche.
And because of a dumb NHL rule that pins the loss on the goalie who gives up what is considered to be the "game-winning goal," Varlamov was tagged with the defeat. Varlamov, who faced six shots, gave up the Blues' third and fourth goals. So when O'Reilly scored the Avalanche's meaningless third goal with 8:54 remaining, the fourth goal became the "game-winning goal."
Giguere, who allowed five goals on 23 shots, remains unbeaten for the season at 5-0.
"This is a team that is very physical," Roy said of the Blues. "They play hard and they played a good game. They finished their checks, they were strong on the puck. I thought the puck bounced well for them on their power play. I think it's a good learning process for us. Overall we did some good stuff and we have to retain the positive, not just the negative."
The Avalanche has lost two games in a row for the first time and will try to get back on track Saturday night against Florida at the Pepsi Center before facing the Chicago Blackhawks at home on Tuesday. The schedule doesn't get easier after that with games against Phoenix, Los Angeles, St. Louis again and back-to-back games against Minnesota to end November.
"There's no reason for us to be down on ourselves," Roy said. "We're 14-4. We played a really good game in Carolina (a 2-1 loss Tuesday). Tonight the puck didn't bounce our way, it bounced their way. Let's make sure we're ready and let's make sure we remain confident against Florida."
Said Blues forward T.J. Oshie: "It feels good to beat a good team. I don't think the score reflects how good of a team they are. They are really good. I'm not sure if we caught them on an off night or we played that well, but it was good to get the two points."
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The loss dropped the Avalanche into second place in the jam-packed Central Division with 28 points in 18 games. The Blackhawks beat Phoenix 5-4 in a shootout and have 29 points in 19 games. The Blues are third with 27 points in 17 games.
The Avalanche didn't even allow as many as seven goals in a game during last season's disastrous campaign. It hadn't been done since a 7-6 overtime loss in Dallas on Nov. 4, 2011. Last time it happened in regulation: a 9-1 home loss to Calgary on Feb. 14, 2011.
Roy moved MacKinnon back to right wing on the line with Gabriel Landeskog and Paul Stastny. John Mitchell centered the third line with Jamie McGinn and Talbot. McGinn has gone 10 games without a goal and Talbot doesn't have a point in seven games since his acquisition from Philadelphia in exchange for Steve Downie.