The puck was on Dryden Hunt’s stick. The frame of the goal, momentarily, gloriously, was unoccupied.
Just not long enough.
St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington, still public enemy No. 1 in Colorado after last season’s second-round playoff series, lunged back in front of the net to stop Hunt’s potential game-tying shot in the third period. The Avalanche kept pressuring but couldn’t manage a chance as golden as that in a 3-2 loss Monday night — even in a 6-on-3 mad dash to the finish line caused by two Blues penalties in the last two minutes.
Colorado’s four-game winning streak came to an end despite the kind of end-to-end action that usually favors the Avalanche.