ST. LOUIS (AP) — David Perron completed his fifth career hat trick to lead the St. Louis Blues over the Colorado Avalanche 5-2 Monday night.
Vince Dunn and Jordan Kyrou also scored for the Blues, who remained atop the Central Division with 48 points. The Avalanche stayed in second with 45. Ryan O’Reilly and Oskar Sundqvist each had two assists for the Blues.
St. Louis has won six consecutive games against Colorado and is 17-3-0 against the Avalanche in the last 20 games dating to April 5, 2011.
Blues goalie Jordan Binnington made 26 saves. It was Binnington’s third consecutive victory, and he improved to 16-6-4 on the season.
Colorado goalie Philipp Grubauer made his first appearance since he suffered a lower-body injury Dec. 7 in Boston. He stopped 31 shots.
The Avalanche scored twice early in the second period for a 2-1 lead before St. Louis rallied.
The Blues received a 4-minute power play late in the second period. Nazem Kadri was falling and his stick struck Colton Parayko in the face and drew blood. St. Louis scored 36 seconds apart to reclaim the lead at 3-2.
Perron made Colorado pay with his second goal when he snapped a wrist shot from the right circle over the shoulder of Grubauer at 18:47.
Dunn and Tyler Bozak worked a give-and-go for the next power-play goal. Dunn fed Bozak, who then hit Dunn rushing the net. Dunn pushed the puck into an open net just outside the crease at 19:23.
Perron was left wide open at the right side of the goal and buried one at 18:51 of the first period for a 1-0 lead. O’Reilly made a pinpoint pass across the ice to Perron, who easily scored.
Kyrou scored his first goal of the season and second in his career at 11:24 of the third period. Kyrou skated in and behind the goal and scored unassisted on a wraparound, easily beating Grubaurer.
Perron scored an empty-net goal at 16:05 for his hat trick. He has 15 goals this season.
The Blues improved to 8-0-4 when leading after the first period and 12-0-4 when leading after two periods this season.
Kadri, who was left alone, scored just 55 seconds into the second period to make it 1-1. Ryan Graves passed right on the tape of Kadri’s stick and he scored his 11th goal from just outside the crease.
Mikko Rantanen scored a power-play goal at 9:35. Rantanen took a pass from Samuel Girard, who took a puck to the mouth in the first period, and smoked a slap shot by Binnington. Nathan MacKinnon got the second assist, which gives him a five-game point streak and 51 points for the season.
Colorado had won a season-best four straight games on the road.
NOTES: Blues F Ivan Barbashev (upper body injury) did not dress. He left Saturday’s game against Chicago after the end of the second period. ... Blues C Robert Thomas played in his 100th NHL game. ... Neither Erik Johnson and Cale Makar made the trip for Colorado. Makar missed all three games of the Avs’ recent homestand with an upper-body injury. Johnson has been out with a lower-body injury.
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Avalanche: Play at Chicago on Wednesday night.