DENVER — Jake Allen made 32 saves, Vladimir Tarasenko and Zach Sanford scored 57 seconds apart in the third period and the St. Louis Blues beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-0 on Saturday for their ninth straight victory.
The winning streak is St. Louis’ longest since also winning nine in a row from Oct. 15-Nov. 5, 2002.
Allen has two shutouts this season and 18 overall. St. Louis hasn’t allowed a goal in 127 minutes, 14 seconds.
The Blues outshot Colorado 25-19 through the first two periods, but couldn’t get one past Semyon Varlamov until Tarasenko broke through with his 25th goal at 4:01 of the third.
After Colorado nearly scored at the other end, Sanford scored on an ensuing odd-man rush, tipping Oskar Sundqvist’s pass past Varlamov at 4:58 for his seventh of the season. Tarasenko also assisted on the goal.
Making his second start in a month, Allen then stopped Mikko Rantanen on a break and denied Carl Soderberg at the doorstep.
Varlamov came off for an extra skater with 2:20 left, and Jaden Schwartz scored into an empty net at 18:24.
NOTES: St. Louis LW Alexander Steen was away from the team to be with his wife for the birth of the couple’s child. Robby Fabbri played in his place after being a healthy scratch for 10 straight games. … Blues D Alex Pietrangelo left briefly in the first period after taking a shot off his foot. … Colorado is 0 for 23 on the power play over its last eight games.
UP NEXT:
St. Louis: At Minnesota on Sunday.
Colorado: Hosts Vegas on Monday night.
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Michael Kelly, The Associated Press
