DENVER (AP) — The Presidents' Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche beat the St. Louis Blues 4-1 in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.
Nathan MacKinnon scored the tiebreaking goal 30 seconds into the third period and later added an empty-netter.
Philipp Grubauer stopped 22 shots.
Gabriel Landeskog also added a third-period goal by tipping in a blue-line blast from MacKinnon.
Cale Makar got things started with a power-play goal in the first period.
Game 2 is Wednesday.
Jordan Kyrou scored his first postseason goal for a Blues team missing leading scorer David Perron, who's out due to the NHL's virus protocols.
