A late push wasn’t enough from the Colorado Avalanche, who fell to one of the hottest teams in the league, the St. Louis Blues, by a score of 5-4.

Here are three takeaways before the team heads back to Denver.

Landeskog takes a stroll up to Loveland

The Avalanche notified members of the media on Friday that Gabriel Landeskog would be taking morning skate with the Colorado Eagles on Saturday. They made it abundantly clear that it wasn’t a conditioning stint and he wouldn’t be playing in a game while he was there, but they went out of their way to notify everyone of what the captain was up to.

He’s expected to skate with the team on Monday, and the team will see if that looks any different than the last few times he’s skated with the full squad.

Landeskog is cranking things up in hopes of making a return in the playoffs. He wouldn’t have gone to Loveland to skate with a bigger group if that wasn’t the case. The question is, are they comfortable throwing him right into a playoff game or do they want him to play a game or two with the Eagles before doing that? There’s risks either way, but a Landeskog return seems inevitable.

Necas and Drouin updates

Avalanche players Jonathan Drouin and Martin Necas missed their second straight games against the Blues. But on a radio interview, coach Jared Bednar declared both to be day-to-day on Saturday.

“Nothing that should keep them out long-term,” he said.

Some could be a little skeptical after hearing that, given that a few day-to-day injuries have lingered for weeks this season. Unfortunately, the update provided no new information on one person.

Where is Samuel Girard?

Sam Girard played in Colorado’s final game before their three-game road trip. He hasn’t played since and no update was provided to Altitude, the only media that went on the road trip.

Girard took shifts in overtime during the Avalanche’s 3-2 loss against Calgary, . This could just be a matter of the team managing something he’s been dealing with. More info could be available after the team practices at home on Monday.

Blues 5, Avalanche 4

What happened: Colorado were down four goals halfway through the game which turned out to be too much to overcome.

What went right: Ross Colton racked up the assists in March but goal scoring since the new year has been a struggle. His goal in the second period nearly sparked a comeback. It didn’t, but maybe it will get him going, as it was only the second game he’s scored a goal in since January 9.

What went wrong: Have the Blues exposed a weakness in Colorado’s penalty kill? They scored a goal from the bumper position in Denver over a week ago and picked up two of them on Saturday. They’ve been exposing a lot of teams during their 12-game win streak, though.

Avalanche goal scorers: Colton (16), Wood (4), MacKinnon (32), Malinski (4)

Blues goal scorers: Bolduc (17,18), Neighbours (22), Buchnevich (17), Thomas (21)

Between the pipes: Mackenzie Blackwood finished with 17 saves on 21 shots.

What’s next? The Avalanche will return home for their final two regular season games at Ball Arena, starting on Tuesday against Vegas at 7:30 p.m.