Five takeaways from the Avalanche’s 4-3 victory at St. Louis

Colorado Avalanche’s Jacob MacDonald (26) handles the puck as St. Louis Blues’ Torey Krug (47) defends during the first period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021, in St. Louis.Minus top-line winger Mikko Rantanen, the Avalanche outshot St. Louis 42-18 on Thursday night and beat the Blues 4-3 at Enterprise Center. Colorado improved to 3-4 while St. Louis (5-1) suffered its first loss. The game story is here.

Five takeaways:

Identity. The Avs played to their identity — an up-tempo, relentlessly fast pace with everybody on board. Because of Rantanen’s late scratch to an undisclosed injury, they went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen, but everybody was in-sync with how they wanted…