Blues win opener

DENVER (AP) — David Perron scored two goals, Jordan Binnington stopped 29 shots and the St. Louis Blues held on for a 5-3 win Saturday night against the Colorado Avalanche in their season opener.

Justin Faulk had a goal and an assist, while Brayden Schenn also scored for the Blues.

Colorado center Nathan MacKinnon, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, was out for the second straight game but coach Jared Bednar returned to the bench after missing Wednesday’s game due to COVID-19 protocols.

Captain Gabriel Landeskog served the first of his two-game suspension for a boarding call Wednesday, leaving the Avalanche without two members of their top line.

Colorado trailed 4-1 when Tyson Jost scored at 14:36 of the third and J.T. Compher made it a onegoal game at 16:18. The Avalanche appeared to tie it with 2:49 left but a replay review determined it was scored with a kicking motion.

Ryan O’Reilly sealed it with an empty-net goal with 20 seconds remaining.

Faulk scored just 4:12 into the game and Schenn added to the Avalanche’s misery when he beat Darcy Kuemper to the short side to put the Blues ahead by two goals at 8:35 of the second.

Kuemper had 23 saves.

Perron, whose status before the game was in question, made it 3-0 when he scored at 11:37 of the second. Colorado got one back when Andre Burakovsky scored at 14:09, but Perron answered early in the third on a power play to restore the three-goal lead.

St. Louis plays Monday night at Arizona.