ST. LOUIS — Pavel Francouz and the Blues are a lot alike. If the Avalanche backup goalie had to be compared to any team this season, it would probably be St. Louis.
The Blues are erratic and streaky. They lost eight consecutive games, then won seven straight, then lost seven of nine entering Sunday afternoon’s matchup against Colorado. Francouz had a four-game stretch with a save percentage of .948, then he struggled at .862 in his two most recent starts over the past three weeks. The Avs arrived in St. Louis not knowing which Francouz they were going to get, or which Blues.
So it was fitting that Francouz faced the division rivals for the first time in his career Sunday, and the spin of the wheel resulted in an unpredictable game with a wild finish: a 3-2 Avalanche overtime victory led by Mikko Rantanen’s dramatic hat trick.
Former Av Brandon Saad scored a short-handed goal to make it 2-1 with 1:36 remaining to seemingly complete St. Louis’ third-period comeback. The Blues killed the penalty, but with 8.1 seconds remaining, a Cale Makar shot ricocheted off J.T. Compher’s body and landed behind Jordan Binnington in the crease. Rantanen pushed the puck across with his stick to steal the first of two Colorado points with his second goal.
“There’s some inconsistencies to their game,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar told The Denver Post before puck drop when asked about St. Louis’ peculiar season. “But I still consider them a contender and a top team in the west.”
And likewise, Francouz has been the trusted backup through four years of ups and downs in Colorado. He made 30 saves to carry the Avalanche until the third period. This was Colorado’s first win in four games without injured star center Nathan MacKinnon.
For the second consecutive game, the Avs got healthier for a change. Artturi Lehkonen rejoined the lineup after missing one week with a concussion. In Valeri Nichushkin’s second game since a one-month absence, he and Lehkonen flanked Rantanen on the top line.
An odd trend has been developing in Rantanen’s game. Individual home-road splits don’t typically yield dramatic differences in hockey, but Rantanen’s were becoming noticeable. Before St. Louis, he had just eight points in 13 true road games — but 20 points, including nine goals, in 10 games at Ball Arena.
So it was a refreshing boost when he kept the puck in a 2-on-1 rush and released a nonchalant-seeming wrister into the top shelf. It broke the ice in a defensively sound game at 10:58 of the second.
That was all Francouz had to work with. He went toe-to-toe with Binnington, the often-controversial St. Louis netminder who upended the Avs with 45 saves a month ago in Denver. He managed to fend off the Blues until 12 minutes remained when Vladimir Tarasenko scored seconds into a high-sticking double minor on Makar.
But when Saad scored the apparent game-winner, Rantanen was just getting started. He was a pest around the net to poke in both late Colorado goals, and he completed the hat trick 29 seconds into overtime.
