Avalanche 5, Blues 3: Jamie McGinn scored two goals and added an assist as Colorado extended its home winning streak against St. Louis to eight games.

Matt Duchene, Cody McLeod and Chuck Kobasew also scored for the Avalanche, who provided an early exit for red-hot Blues goalie Brian Elliott late in the second period. Jean-Sebastien Giguere turned aside 29 shots for his fifth victory.

David Backes recorded a goal and an assist while defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk and Jaden Schwartz also tallied for St. Louis, which remained one point behind fifth-place San Jose in the Western Conference. Jake Allen made 11 saves after replacing Elliott, who came in 8-1-0 in his last nine games before allowing four goals on 19 shots.

McGinn and Backes traded goals 54 seconds apart midway through the first period before McLeod’s deflection of a Stefan Elliott shot with 55 seconds left gave Colorado a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes. Ryan O’Reilly lost the puck, retrieved it and fed McGinn in the slot for a power-play goal 3:10 into the second.

Schwartz scored his first goal in 11 games to pull the Blues within one before Duchene went to the net and lifted a shot from a bad angle left of the net with 2:37 to go in the second for a 4-2 advantage. Shattenkirk trimmed the deficit with a screen shot from the right point 8:04 into the third before Kobasew responded 3:50 later.

GAME NOTEBOOK: McGinn has 11 goals - including seven in his last 15 games. … St. Louis has not scored a power-play goal in its last 10 road games, going 0-for-23. … Colorado is 6-5-3 against Central Division representatives. … The teams will meet again on Tuesday in St. Louis.