ST. LOUIS BLUES VS COLORADO AVALANCHE 01/02/2020 LIVE 9:30

The Colorado Avalanche will try to reverse their recent fortunes against the St. Louis Blues when they host their Central Division rival Thursday night.

The Avalanche have lost six consecutive games to the Blues, most recently 5-2 in St. Louis on Dec. 16.

Overall, the Avalanche have lost five of their last six games heading into this matchup at Pepsi Center.

The Western Conference-leading Blues built an eight-game winning streak before suffering a 3-1 road loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday night.

The Avalanche have allowed 20 goals in their last four losses. Their struggles continued despite the return of key defensemen Cale Makar and Erik Johnson from injuries.

"It's just going the wrong way for us right now and no one is happy about it, but you know, there's ebbs and flows throughout the season, and we're not trying to peak in January -- we're trying to peak when it matters," Johnson told reporters after his team fell to the Winnipeg Jets 7-4 on Tuesday.

"We want to get out of this funk as soon as we can, but there's peaks and valleys to every year, and every team goes through it, and we're going through it right now, and sometimes that's how it happens. But hopefully we're better for it the long run."

Avalanche superstar Nathan MacKinnon had 25 points and a plus-7 rating in 14 games in November. He had 16 points and a minus-8 rating in 14 December games.

Goaltender Philipp Grubauer has also struggled lately, going 1-4-1 with a 3.02 goals-against average in December. Coach Jared Bednar could seek a lift from Pavel Francouz, who is 11-3-1 with a 2.41 GAA as Grubauer's backup this season.

Whoever is in goal would like to see fewer odd-man rushes against the Avalanche.

"We keep shooting (ourselves) in our own leg, we do mistakes on our own, you know?" winger Mikko Rantanen told reporters after the Jets game. "First period, we could have been up three goals or two goals, and then we just give up some goals. 4-on-4, I don't make the right play and it cost us. It's costing us right now, so we just have to figure out right now, because like I said, it's a tough division, tough conference and we can't keep dropping these points."

The Blues have won 12 of their last 16 games. They are 10-1-1 overall against Central Division teams.

They put 39 shots on goal during their loss to the Coyotes but misfired on many key chances, including one five-on-three power-play.

"I don't think we played quite as well as we would have liked to tonight," Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "But we won eight games in a row -- you're not gonna win them all. We just regroup. They're a pesky team. They kind of clog things up, don't give you a lot of really good chances."

Goalie Jordan Binnington figures to get the call against the Avalanche. He has won six consecutive starts overall and is 3-0 with a 1.62 GAA and a .931 save percentage in three starts against the Avalanche.