ST. LOUIS — Bowen Byram scored twice, and Mikko Rantanen scored his 200th career NHL goal to help the Colorado Avalanche beat the St. Louis Blues 4-1 Saturday to remain in third place in the Central Division.

Valeri Nichuskin also scored, and Justus Annunen stopped 19 shots in his season debut to give Colorado its third win in its last four games.

Sammy Blais scored for St. Louis, and Jordan Binnington made 29 saves as the Blues snapped a three-game winning streak less than 24 hours after trading centers Ryan O’Reilly and Noel Acciari to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Byram recorded his first career multi-goal game when he one-timed a feed from Samuel Girard on a power play from Samuel Girard for his fifth goal of the season to give Colorado a 4-1 lead 9:40 into the third period.

Nichuskin scored his ninth goal of the season on a power play 2:56 into the third period to restore Colorado’s two goal lead.

Blais scored his second goal of the season with 4:32 remaining in the second period to narrow St. Louis’ deficit to 2-1.

Byram scored his first goal on a pass from Rantanen 7:27 into the second period to expand Colorado’s lead to 2-0.

Rantanen scored his team-leading 35th goal of the season and 200th of his career with 3:23 remaining in the first period to give Colorado a 1-0 lead.

PREDATORS 7, PANTHERS 3: Tommy Novak scored twice and Roman Josi scored a goal and added two assists to lead Nashville to a win at home.

Ryan Johansen had a goal and an assist and Matt Duchene, Colton Sissons and Yakov Trenin also scored for Nashville, which had lost three of its previous four.

Kevin Lankinen made 30 saves for the Predators and Ryan McDonagh had three assists, equaling a career high.

Nick Cousins, Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Reinhart scored for Florida. Sergei Bobrovsky and Spencer Knight combined for 19 saves. Brandon Montour had two assists.

Both teams began Saturday on the outside of the playoff picture.

BLUE JACKETS 4, STARS 1: Adam Boqvist broke a tie early in the third period and last-place Columbus won in Dallas.

The Western Conference-leading Stars, who had an early start time on the second night of a back-to-back after losing 2-1 in a shootout at Minnesota, lost for the seventh time in nine games. Six of the losses have come at home.

Boqvist’s goal was his second of the season, and Liam Foudy had the first regular-season goal of his career for the Blue Jackets, who successfully challenged two Dallas goals in the second period.

Mathieu Olivier gave Columbus a two-goal lead late in the third, and Joonas Korpisalo made 29 saves. Eric Robinson was awarded an empty-net goal when he was brought down on a breakaway.

TORONTO 5, MONTREAL 1: Michael Bunting scored twice as the Maple Leafs defeated Montreal in the Toronto debuts for Ryan O’Reilly and Noel Acciari.

The forwards were acquired from the St. Louis Blues in a blockbuster three-team trade late Friday – and were in the action just over 20 hours later.

Pierre Engvall, William Nylander and David Kampf scored for Toronto. Joseph Woll made 29 saves. Auston Matthews and Rasmus Sandin each picked up two assists.

Josh Anderson scored 42 seconds into the second period for Montreal, which got 37 stops from Jake Allen.