ST. LOUIS — There was very little fanfare Tuesday night in the  Avalanche locker room.

The Avs had just checked off two of their three most-important goals for the regular season in one fell swoop. Colorado clinched the Central Division title and the top spot in the Western Conference with a 3-1 victory against the St. Louis Blues.

It was eight years to the day that Gabe Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon helped the Avs return to the playoffs by defeating these Blues at Ball Arena in a Game 82, winner-take-all showdown for a golden ticket to the NHL’s postseason tournament. This was a very different postgame atmosphere.

It felt like another Tuesday night in a season full of them. Landeskog even feigned ignorance about what they had just accomplished.

“We’re not all the way there yet,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “The goal for us started with winning the division and the conference (but) we still need another win to get first overall. We’d be crazy not to chase that at this point. It’s important, if you get to where you want to go, you might as well try and get your home ice, especially after a season like this.

“It feels great. I mean, we’re not throwing parades or that kind of stuff yet so, but we’re happy with where we’re at. We should celebrate it a little bit, because it’s a big goal of ours to start the year and we’ve accomplished part of it.”

For a group that has been in Stanley Cup or bust mode for at least the past six seasons, the Avs have kept the focus on what got them here — the process that led to a historic 31-2-7 start, and allows them to lock in and dominate a desperate team with far more motivation to show up and play well on a Tuesday night like this one.

How they played against the Blues was more important than celebrating a season-long accomplishment.

“Our focus has been trying to get our game to a point where we feel really about it defensively and offensively,” Landeskog said. “I really liked our game (Tuesday) night. I thought all four lines checked really hard. We created a lot of scoring chances. In the third period, I though we gave up a little bit too much, but they’re desperate. They’re playing for their lives at that point.”

The Avs are only 20-14-3 since that historic march to 69 points in 40 games. There have been lots of injuries. When two of their top-eight skaters (Cale Makar, Devon Toews, Nathan MacKinnon, Martin Necas, Artturi Lehkonen, Brock Nelson, Valeri Nichushkin and Landeskog) are missing, the Avs are 9-10-3.

When one or none is missing, the Avs are 11-4-0 since the white-hot start. That version of the Avalanche is still in there. Colorado showed it Saturday afternoon in Dallas, and again Tuesday night in St. Louis.

It was the third game in four nights against a red-hot team trying to make a miracle save of its season. The Avs came out and suffocated St. Louis for the first two periods.

“I don’t have to see it for 60 minutes for every game the rest of the way,” Bednar said. “But we need to see it enough to secure our goals and making sure everyone is confident in the way we play and the trust you have in your teammates that you can do it the right way. That’s another big step for us (Tuesday) night.”

Bednar made it clear there is still one more to go. The Avs need some combination of two points gained or two lost by the Carolina Hurricanes to wrap up the Presidents’ Trophy and home-ice advantage through the Stanley Cup Final.

Beyond that, the Avs’ main goals through the final five games will be to get everyone as healthy as possible, and hopefully see a couple of strong outings from Mackenzie Blackwood, who has scuffled recently. There wasn’t a celebratory vibe in the cramped visitors locker room at Enterprise Center, but the Avs know one thing they’ve earned — fewer nights in small, unfamiliar rooms like this one once the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin.

“There’s no do or die for it, but if you have the opportunity, you’re going to take it,” goalie Scott Wedgewood said after another strong start. “Home ice is super important. It’s an advantage. You spend more days at home in between rounds.

“Hopefully that will pay dividends for us.”

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