Blues strike early in 5-1 win over Avs

DENVER -- David Backes started the scoring in a three-goal first period, Anders Nilsson made 19 saves in relief of an apparently injured Jake Allen, and the St. Louis Blues beat Colorado 5-1 on Sunday night as the Avalanche moved to the brink of postseason elimination.

Magnus Paajarvi, Colton Parayko and Alex Pietrangelo also scored for the Blues, who are chasing Dallas for the Central Division title and trying to stay ahead of Chicago. Troy Brouwer added an empty-netter with 2 minutes, 55 seconds remaining.

Matt Duchene scored late for the Avalanche, who maintained their slim playoff hopes with Minnesota losing to Winnipeg on Sunday. They trail the Wild by five points for the final Western Conference berth.

Both teams switched their starting goalie for the second period. Allen was replaced by Nilsson after sustaining an injury, Blues coach Ken Hitchcock told the NBC Sports broadcast in a bench interview.

The Avalanche inserted Calvin Pickard after Semyon Varlamov gave up three goals on 14 shots.

Pietrangelo all but sealed the win with a power-play goal early in the second period that made it 4-0. St. Louis has scored at least four goals in 11 of its last 15 games.

Allen was playing well, stopping, 11 shots, before giving way to Nilsson, who lost the shutout with 4:14 remaining as Duchene tipped in a shot by Mikkel Boedker.

The Blues opened a three-goal lead in the first period -- all after the Avalanche looked as though they were about to take a lead themselves.

Allen stopped John Mitchell's bid for a short-handed goal early in the first period. That led to a break the other way, with Backes sending a pass over to Vladimir Tarasenko, who sent it right back to Backes as the forward easily beat Varlamov.

The Blues kept up the relentless pressure and scored again at 8:56. Paajarvi whacked and whacked at a loose puck in front of Varlamov until it finally trickled into the net. It was Paajarvi's first goal since Dec. 21. Former Avalanche forward Paul Stastny had an assist on the play.

Parayko scored late in the first when he sent a slap shot between the pads of a screened Varlamov. With the crowd quieted by the goal spree, a Colorado fan screamed, "Big game -- WAKE UP!"

NOTES: The Blues were without forward Robby Fabbri (lower body) and defenseman Jay Bouwmeester (upper body), but defenseman Carl Gunnarsson (lower body) returned after not playing the last three games. ... Avalanche D Nikita Zadorov sat out with a concussion. ... Nathan MacKinnon (knee) and Eric Gelinas (elbow) both missed their seventh game in a row. ... Colorado embarks on a two-game trip beginning Tuesday at Nashville.