DENVER _ The Blues clinched a playoff spot without winning, getting a point Friday night by taking the game to overtime, which was enough to seal the deal. The Blues lost to the Colorado Avalanche in a shootout, 2-1, but one point was all they needed for the postseason berth.
The Blues lost the shootout, 2-0, with Alexander Steen and Vladimir Tarasenko missing their chances while Colorado scored on its first and third attempts. Nathan MacKinnon scored the deciding goal.
A second point, though, would have been huge, as the Blues now hold only a two-point lead over Nashville in the race for third in the Central Division heading into their showdown Sunday at Scottrade Center. Because the Blues hold the tiebreaker, they will still be in third when the Blues and Predators meet, regardless of what Nashville does Saturday.
It's the sixth straight trip to the postseason for the Blues. Only three other teams have made the playoffs each of the past six seasons: Pittsburgh (11 straight, including this season), Chicago (nine) and the New York Rangers (seven).
After a quick start, the game turned into a lackadaisical effort for the Blues, who were significantly outshot and outplayed in the final 40 minutes.
It got pretty hairy at the end of regulation, as the Avalanche hit the goal frame twice in one minute late in the period and Jake Allen had to make a save on a breakaway in overtime.
The Blues took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Ryan Reaves, who had had just one goal in the past 28 games. Kyle Brodziak won a faceoff in the Avalanche end, and the puck came back to Jordan Schmaltz, who passed to Scottie Upshall down low. Upshall's shot from a tight angle was deflected in for Reaves' fifth goal of the season, putting him one off his career high. It was also the first NHL point for Schmaltz, coming in his fourth game.
Other than a brief Avalanche flurry in the middle of the period, the Blues had the puck for most of the period, outshooting the Avs 7-0 over the last nine minutes. With 36.8 seconds to go in the period, Magnus Paajarvi was tripped by Carl Soderberg to set up a power play.
The Blues' power play was abysmal on Wednesday in Arizona _ they were 1 for 3, but the one goal was David Perron's empty-net goal _ and this one was only marginally better and, like Wednesday, did little to generate any momentum. The Avalanche went on to dominate the period, outshooting the Blues 15-4 and tying the game.
Colorado, which has the league's worst power play at 12.5 percent and had just one goal in their past 24 power plays, got one. With Upshall off for a high stick, Nathan MacKinnon stickhandled through the Blues, and while Jake Allen blocked his shot, the rebound came to J.T. Compher, who had an open net to shoot into.
Colorado almost got a second power-play goal after Mikko Rantanen made a nice move in front of Allen to get around him, but he lost the puck in the process and couldn't shoot at the open net. The Blues had a power play at the end of the period again, but failed to get a shot in goal in the two minutes.
The Blues also lost defenseman Robert Bortuzzo to an upper body injury early in the second period on a check by Anton Lindholm. He appeared to be favoring his his right side and did not return. The Blues may be in a short-term jam at the position, since Carl Gunnarsson missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury and didn't skate Friday. Gunnarsson injury isn't' expected to be long-term, but the Blues may need to make a call-up on Saturday from Chicago.
The Blues didn't have much to show for the first eight minutes of the third period, and when they got a power play with 11:55 to go, they didn't have much to show from that either, failing to record a shot on goal.
