J.T. Compher scored twice to lead the visiting Colorado Avalanche past the St. Louis Blues 4-3 Thursday night.

Nazem Kadri and Cale Makar also scored for the Avalanche, who outshot the Blues 42-18. Goaltender Darcy Kuemper made 15 saves to earn the victory.

Brayden Schenn, Vladimir Tarasenko and Colton Parayko scored for the Blues, who suffered their first loss after starting the season 5-0.

Jordan Binnington made 38 saves in defeat.

Both teams had to scramble their forward lines in this game due to injuries and illness.

The Avalanche played without top winger Mikko Rantanen, who left the game-day skate early and was scratched from the lineup. He joined defensemen Samuel Girard and Devon Toews, forwards Valeri Nichushkin and Stefan Matteau, and goaltender Pavel Francouz on the injured list.

Blues center Ryan O'Reilly missed his first game while in COVID-19 protocols. Oskar Sundqvist (knee surgery) and Brandon Saad (COVID-19 protocols) were also missing.

The Avalanche thought they struck first with Sampo Ranta's deflection goal 2:54 into the game. But the Blues negated the goal with a successful offside challenge.

Parayko put the Blues up 1-0 midway through the period with a blast from the right point.

Compher tied the game 1-1 with 1:48 left in the period by deflecting Ryan Murray's shot from the center point.

Midway through the second period Compher struck again, this time with a shot from the slot on Colorado's fifth power play. Kadri made it 3-1 with 5:20 left in the period with a wrist shot while cutting through the right circle.

Schenn cut the lead to 3-2 by converting Jordan Kyrou's spinning backhand pass across the crease 4:13 into the third period. But Makar made it 4-2 by scoring off Nathan MacKinnon's pass into the high slot just 38 seconds later.

Tarasenko converted a give-and-go rush with Robert Thomas with 3:59 left to cut the lead to 4-3.

--Field Level Media