Recap
Avalanche 6, Blues 1
Associated Press

DENVER (AP) - Marek Svatos plays in the shadows of more publicized rookies Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby. That hasn't kept the Colorado Avalanche forward from matching them goal-for-goal.

Svatos had his second three-goal game and David Aebischer stopped 27 shots to help the Avalanche win their fifth straight game, 6-1 over St. Louis on Monday night.

"It is a special crop of rookies this year and I think everybody has a strong case with how well they are playing and the consideration they are getting," Colorado coach Joel Quennville said. "Being aware of Svatos on a regular basis, he is deserving of some attention and consideration based on how consistent he has been.'

Ovechkin and Svatos lead NHL rookies with 25 goals. Crosby has 21.

"I am not tracking the other rookies, but I read the newspaper," Svatos said. "I know Ovechkin has 25, so it was nice to catch him.

Svatos has five goals in three games, 25 for the season and four multigoal games. He also had a hat trick Oct. 10 against Calgary.

"They are great players and they are the best players on their teams, so they deserve a lot of ice time," Svatos said. "The biggest issue for me is my defensive play, and I'm trying to work on it and get better at it so I can play on the penalty kill."

Patrice Brisebois, Andrew Brunette and Alex Tanguay added goals for the Avalanche. The winning streak is Colorado's longest since a six-game run Jan. 30-Feb. 11, 2003.

Simon Gamache scored the lone goal for St. Louis, 4-6-0-1 in its last 11 games. Jason Bacashihua made 30 saves and the Blues were 0-for-7 on the power play.

"There are times we seem to be turning the corner," St. Louis center Doug Weight said. "Then we play games like this where we were down right embarrassing."

Brisebois and Svatos scored 1:11 apart in the first period to put Colorado ahead 2-0. With teams playing 4-on-4, Brisebois took a pass from Brett Clark and sent a slap shot from the right point off the right post and into the net at 13:40.

The Avalanche went on the power play seconds later when Ian Laperriere returned from a roughing penalty. Bacashihua stopped Rob Blake's slap shot from the slot, but Svatos jumped on the rebound and sent it past Bacashiua's glove at 14:51.

"He is pretty resilient in that area," Quennville said. "He doesn't need much of an opportunity to get it away, and he can be really tricky there."

St. Louis had chances to score early in the second period, but came up empty. Jamal Mayers hit the right post on a breakaway 2 minutes into the period.

The Blues managed only one shot on Aebischer in a 45-second, 5-on-3 advantage. They had only three shots on the combined penalties to Brad Richardson and Milan Hejduk.

Svatos scored his second goal of the game on a one-timer from the slot at 8:35 of the second period, and completed the hat trick with 6:35 left in the third.

"There isn't anything unusual about Svatos," Bacashihua said. "He's a goal scorer who scores when he gets his stick on the puck."

Notes: Colorado recalled F Brad Richardson from Lowell of AHL. ... St. Louis C Doug Weight had the Blues' best scoring chance of the first period, but sent a backhander over the wide-open net. ... Colorado C Pierre Turgeon is expected to miss at least three weeks because of a strained shoulder.


Three star selections
1st:   MAREK SVATOS
2nd:   ROB BLAKE
3rd:   KARLIS SKRASTINS
Winning Goaltender
David Aebischer

Losing Goaltender
Jason Bacashihua

SCHEDULE

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PROMOTIONAL

STANDINGS

WESTERN CONFERENCE
  TEAM GP W L OT GF GA PTS
1 p - CHI 48 36 7 5 155 102 77
2 y - ANA 48 30 12 6 140 118 66
3 y - VAN 48 26 15 7 127 121 59
4 x - STL 48 29 17 2 129 115 60
5 x - LAK 48 27 16 5 133 118 59
6 x - SJS 48 25 16 7 124 116 57
7 x - DET 48 24 16 8 124 115 56
8 x - MIN 48 26 19 3 122 127 55
9 CBJ 48 24 17 7 120 119 55
10 PHX 48 21 18 9 125 131 51
11 DAL 48 22 22 4 130 142 48
12 EDM 48 19 22 7 125 134 45
13 CGY 48 19 25 4 128 160 42
14 NSH 48 16 23 9 111 139 41
15 COL 48 16 25 7 116 152 39

STATS

2012-2013 REGULAR SEASON
SKATERS: GP G A +/- Pts
P. Parenteau 48 18 25 -11 43
M. Duchene 47 17 26 -12 43
P. Stastny 40 9 15 -7 24
J. McGinn 47 11 11 -13 22
J. Mitchell 47 10 10 5 20
R. O'Reilly 29 6 14 -3 20
G. Landeskog 36 9 8 -4 17
T. Barrie 32 2 11 -11 13
C. McLeod 48 8 4 4 12
M. Hejduk 29 4 7 -7 11
 
GOALIES: W L OT Sv% GAA
J. Giguere 5 4 4 .908 2.84
S. Varlamov 11 21 3 .903 3.02
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