Schwartz, St. Louis Blues head into All-Star break with win over Colorado Avalanche

Jaden Schwartz tallied a power-play goal and an assist in the St. Louis Blues' 3-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Monday.

Carl Gunnarsson and T.J. Oshie also scored, Alexander Steen extended his point streak to 10 games with two assists and Brian Elliott made 17 saves for the Blues, who have recorded a point in eight straight games (7-0-1) heading into the All-Star break.

Matt Duchene scored and Semyon Varlamov stopped 27-of-30 shots for the Avalanche, who have lost four of their last five games.

St. Louis used carry-over power-play time to reclaim the lead 32 seconds into the middle stanza. Gabriel Landeskog sat for slashing as Steen entered the zone and dished the puck to Schwartz, who slapped home his own rebound.

Oshie made it 3-1 just past the midway point of the second by wristing the rebound of David Backes' shot past the left pad of Varlamov in tight.

Colorado pulled Varlamov while on the power play with over three minutes left in regulation, but was unable to score.

The Blues started the scoring 8:06 into the contest after Gunnarsson fired a shot from the right point that deflected off a Colorado defender and past a screened Varlamov.

Duchene gathered a Blues turnover at the left circle and sent a spinning backhander into the net for a tied game with 6:58 to play in the first period.

Game Notes

Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock tied Brian Sutter for second on the franchise's all-time list with 153 wins ... Steen has seven goals and 11 assists since Dec. 30 ...Backes extended his point streak to seven games with the primary assist on Oshie's marker. He also appeared in his 613th career game, which tied him for eighth on the franchise's all-time list with Al MacInnis ... The Blues won the season series with the Avalanche, 4-1-0 ... St. Louis' next game will be on Jan. 29 in Nashville, while the Avalanche will host the Bruins on Wednesday.

[SportsNetwork.com]