The Colorado Avalanche (3-4-0) held on to beat the previously undefeated St. Louis Blues (5-1-0) 4-3 on Thursday despite missing some pretty important pieces to the lineup.

J.T. Compher scored two goals, Cale Makar and Nazem Kadri also scored for the Avs. It was an overall solid road game from Colorado. They dictated much of the pace, despite playing without Mikko Rantanen, Devin Toews, and Sam Girard. Colorado outshot St. Louis 30-12 through two periods and 42-18 for the game.

St. Louis made it interesting in the third period but the Avs held on for a very big two points in regulation.

Darcy Kuemper recorded 15 saves to improve his record to 3-3 with a 3.19 goals against and .893 save percentage.

Makar now has goals in back-to-back games as is finally starting to look more like himself out there. He was flying around the ice like the Makar we are used to seeing.

Unlike Makar and his slow start, Kadri has been a bright spot for Colorado with five points (2g 3a) in the team's first seven games. He also has 24 PIMs and was involved in a very weird incident late in the second period.

Kadri and weird incidents go hand-in-hand, except he wasn't the one being weird or losing his mind. That distinction was reserved for Blues' goalie Jordan Binnington. The Stanley Cup-winning goalie swung his stick at the head of Kadri following a scrum around his goalmouth.

With time winding down in the second period, the two teams got into a tussle in front of the Blues net after it looked like Makar put the puck in– but the net was off its moorings, and the goal was disallowed.

The friendly gathering grew more intense and for some reason, Binnington flipped his lid and shot the puck at Kuemper before skating towards Kadri and swinging his stick at or above Kadri's head.

Binnington was given a 10-minute misconduct for the attempted tomahawk chop. It was the first time a Blues goalie reived such a penalty since 1987. That's how strange it was.

Kadri also received a misconduct penalty for the incident. The whole thing was actually pretty bizarre.

When asked about the attempt to give Kadri a haircut Binnington said he lost his cool in the heat of the moment and reiterated that "(he's) not crazy."

In light, of what the NHL has been dealing with over the last few days I would say any additional negative attention on the league is just that - crazy. Imagine if Binnington had connected? What then? Thankfully, that's not the case and the Avs move on with two points in their pocket.

The Avs host a feisty and talented Minnesota Wild team on Saturday before getting a few days off to get healthy and regroup. Both Girard and Toews are expected back in the lineup in the next couple of games. Ratananen is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Things are looking up in the Rocky Mountian State.

Thanks for reading,
Steve

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