DENVER — Gabriel Landeskog scored at 4:44 of overtime and the Colorado Avalanche rallied late Wednesday night to beat the St. Louis Blues 4-3.
Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene and Mikhail Grigorenko also scored for the Avalanche, who handed the Blues their fourth straight loss.
Landeskog got the winner when St. Louis goalie Jake Allen lost a race to the puck near the right circle. John Mitchell got the puck and sent it across to Landeskog, who put it in the empty net.
Vladimir Tarasenko, David Backes and Patrik Berglund scored for the Blues. Allen finished with 29 saves.
St. Louis was poised to get a key Central Division win before Colorado rallied. The Avalanche pulled goalie Semyon Varlamov for an extra skater with 2:10 left and MacKinnon scored at 18:31 with a sharp-angle shot that went off Allen.
It was his 14th of the season.
Varlamov had 35 saves.
Colorado took a 1-0 lead on Duchene’s 19th goal of the season just 4:48 into the game. St. Louis responded with three goals in a span of 4:08.
Tarasenko tied it at 16:24 of the first when he muscled past defenceman Francois Beauchemin and lifted the puck over Varlamov’s right shoulder for his 24th of the season.
Backes gave the Blues a 2-1 lead on the power play when he scored his 11th at 19:02. Berglund made it 3-1 just 50 seconds into the second period when he scored an unassisted goal. It was his first of the year.
Grigorenko got Colorado within one at 6:32 when he skated through the slot and roofed a shot past Allen for his second of the season.
Duchene was playing his first game since being named to the NHL All-Star Game. It is his second All-Star honour and first since 2011, his second year in the league.
NOTES: Johnson is expected to miss between five and 12 days with his injury. He was hurt in the second period of Monday’s win over the Kings. … Blues C Kyle Brodziak returned to the lineup after missing the last game due to fatigue. He had missed five games with a cut on his leg from a skate.
