Oskar Sundqvist had two goals, Jordan Binnington stopped 26 shots and the St. Louis Blues beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-1 on Wednesday night in Denver.

Jordan Kyrou and Kyle Clifford also had goals and Robert Thomas added two assists for the Blues.

The teams play again in Denver on Friday night.

Andre Burakovsky scored and Philipp Grubauer made 28 saves for the Avalanche. Colorado played without Erik Johnson, one of its top defensemen, after he tested positive for COVID-19. Johnson is one of 27 NHL players who tested positive for the virus during the preseason.

The Avalanche got two early power plays, the second coming when Sammy Blais elbowed Devon Toews behind the Colorado net. Just 12 seconds later, J.T. Compher fed a pass across the zone to Burakovsky, whose shot off a St. Louis defenseman knuckled past Binnington and gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead 4:55 into the game.

Toews missed the rest of the first period but returned in the second and he finished with 23:23 of ice time in his Colorado debut.

The Blues got even when Sundqvist took a pass from Jaden Schwartz on an odd-man rush and put a shot past Grubauer at 9:29 of the first period. St. Louis grabbed the lead when Colorado turned it over and Kyrou scored off a pass from Tyler Bozak at 13:15 of the first.

St. Louis outshot Colorado 17-5 in the opening period.

The Avalanche had a 15-6 advantage in shots in the second period but wasn't able to get the equalizer, and then the Blues padded their lead early in the third. Colorado had the puck behind its net but turned it over. Ivan Barbashev took possession and fed Clifford in the slot, and Clifford's shot beat Grubauer at 6:46.

St. Louis put it away with a late goal by Sundqvist. He took a feed from Thomas along the backboards and tapped in his own rebound to make it a three-goal game at 14:22.

--Field Level Media