DENVER — The Colorado Avalanche got back in the win column Tuesday night, ending a four-game slide against the St. Louis Blues. Valeri Nichushkin had a goal and an assist in a 5-3 victory at Ball Arena.

“We weren’t doubting ourselves, but I just think we’d gotten away from our game a little bit,” Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson said. “Our details were slipping.

“I think we were trying to slow the game down a little bit the last few games. We needed a good home game there. We had a good start. Kind of let it slip there at the end a little bit but overall, 52 minutes was just awesome.”

After a scoreless first period, the Avalanche jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Nathan MacKinnon won a faceoff cleanly back to Nichushkin, who skated around until he found the spot and the shot that felt right. He beat St. Louis goaltender Jordan Binnington through traffic to make it 1-0. It was Nichushkin’s sixth goal in eight games.

On the second goal, J.T. Compher (2 assists) turned the play around in the St. Louis end and put the puck on net. It spat back out, straight up the middle to Erik Johnson. Johnson netted his eighth goal of the season.

Colorado defenseman Josh Manson made it 3-0, sending a shot through the Blues’ Nathan Walker.

Brandon Saad, a member of the Avalanche’s second line last season, put the Blues on the board during a power play. Saad was waiting beside the net while his teammates whipped the puck around the perimeter. A lane opened up and he tapped in a feed from Jordan Kyrou.

Artturi Lehkonen scored from close range nine seconds into the third period. Down 4-1, the Blues came almost all the way back on two goals from another former Colorado player, Ryan O’Reilly.

Nazem Kadri scored into an empty net with 46 seconds left in regulation. Darcy Kuemper made 28 saves for Colorado.

With two games left before the playoffs, the Avalanche looked like themselves.

“We just needed to keep our composure on the bench, not get frustrated. Frustration’s kind of a useless emotion,” Manson said. “Just keep having the things that we knew gave us success in the past. And we needed to work hard.”

The Blues dodged an early, embarrassing deficit by a matter of feet. Binnington went to the bench on a delayed penalty and the puck slid straight toward the empty Blues net. Defenseman Marco Scandella had to dive to knock it out of harm’s way.

It’s the last week of the regular season and the Avalanche still don’t know who their first-round playoff opponent will be. In Dallas, the Stars and Vegas Golden Knights went past regulation, where the hosts won in a shootout. That kept Vegas’ postseason hopes on life support.

Dallas’ win allowed the Nashville Predators to clinch a playoff spot. The eighth team in the West will be the last team in.