Semyon Varlamov made 26 saves for his second shutout of the season to lead the Colorado Avalanche in a 5-0 win over the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday.
Varlamov had been out of action since Dec. 5 because of a nagging groin injury, yet recovered well enough to claim the 15th shutout of his career.
“We played a real solid game the whole 60 minutes,” said Varlamov. “It is much easier to play when the guys score lots of goals.”
Alex Tanguay and Ryan O’Reilly each had one goal and an assist for the Avalanche, who have won three in a row. Jarome Iginla, Zach Redmond and Erik Johnson also lit the lamp.
Jake Allen gave up five goals on 31 shots over two periods for the Blues, who have dropped three straight. Martin Brodeur made 10 saves in the third.
“They beat us tonight,” said Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk. “They flat- out beat us.”
The Avs’ offense got going at the 15:02 mark of the first period. Johnson’s shot from the left point beat traffic in front and got past Allen.
Colorado took a 2-0 lead on a power-play goal at 18:45. O’Reilly’s pass through the crease found the stick of Redmond for his fourth of the season.
Tanguay made it 3-0 at 5:49 of the middle stanza. Iginla’s shot from the bottom of the right circle hit off Tanguay’s chest before crossing the goal line and the score was confirmed via video review.
O’Reilly then lit the lamp on the power play at 16:47 when he went top shelf from the side of the net.
Allen failed to stop Iginla’s one-timer at the 17:27 mark, and Varlamov made the lead hold up with 12 stops in the third period.
