Well back and way out of the playoff race, Colorado is making things difficult for teams in or contending for a playoff spot.

Because if they don’t play inspired hockey, they run the risk of incurring the wrath of veteran goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere again.

Jamie McGinn scored twice, Giguere stopped 29 shots and the Avalanche prevented the St. Louis Blues from wrapping up a playoff spot with a 5-3 win on Sunday night.

Colorado is 3-0-2 against teams jockeying for postseason position since Giguere recently boiled over and bristled about his team’s lackluster play. They definitely received his message.

“All it means is we can play against anyone in this league if we put our minds to it,” Giguere said. “If we skate, play the system the way it’s supposed to be and we’re on the same page, then we can compete against any team in this league. That’s something we should be excited about, something we should build on.”

Cody McLeod, Matt Duchene and Chuck Kobasew also scored for the Avalanche, who chased Brian Elliott from the game late in the second period. It was Colorado’s eighth straight win over the Blues at Pepsi Center.

David Backes, Jaden Schwartz and Kevin Shattenkirk had goals for St. Louis, which could have secured a postseason berth with a win over a Colorado team that’s last in the Western Conference.

After Elliott, one of the top goaltenders this month, gave up a fourth goal, the Blues pulled him in favor of Jake Allen. He allowed Kobasew’s third-period goal that gave Colorado a 5-3 advantage.

Giguere made the lead hold up down the stretch.

Elliott resembled the Elliott of three months ago, the goaltender scuffling in net, and not the one with an 8-1 mark in April along with a 1.01 goals-allowed average entering the game. He had three straight road shutouts before McGinn broke the scoreless streak midway through the opening period.

“We just didn’t play as good as a team,” Elliott said. “That’s not how we want to play. Obviously, it’s frustrating not getting the win and clinching a playoff spot like we had a chance to do tonight. That’s what’s frustrating.”

The Blues play the Avs again in two days.

“You can’t dwell on this too much, you have to take (the loss) for what it is and learn from it,” Elliott said. “This is not the time of year to have a team effort like that. From the goalie out, we have to be better.”

St. Louis was uncharacteristically careless with the puck, committing several turnovers that led to goals. The Mile High City hasn’t been particularly kind to the Blues, who’ve not won in Denver since April 12, 2009. Coach Ken Hitchcock said part of the reason is that his team tries to play a fast-paced tempo with the Avs, instead of their own game.

Colorado had the Blues in chase mode, especially after building a 4-2 lead after two periods. Giguere bottled up the Blues, but Shattenkirk made things interesting by scoring on a wrist shot from the blue line to make it 4-3 midway through the third.

Kobasew ended the drama by banking in a shot off Allen nearly 4 minutes later.

“Wasn’t one of our better games,” Hitchcock said.

The Avalanche’s recently inspired play has something to do with Giguere’s motivational rant — and even more to do with plain, old pride.

“When you go on a downward spiral like we did there for a while, it’s tough to get out of,” Duchene said. “You get in a terrible mindset that’s really hard to overcome.

“A little while ago, we accepted our fate and we started playing good hockey and knocking off good teams. It’s good to go into next season like this. We need to continue to press and play well.”

McGinn gave Colorado a 1-0 lead in the first period when his left skate deflected a shot past Elliott. The officials quickly reviewed the goal and upheld the ruling. It was the first road goal Elliott allowed in more than 200 minutes.

Backes tied the game when he coasted up the middle and lifted a shot by Giguere. But McLeod put Colorado back on top just before the end of the period, tipping a shot past Elliott.

These days, that hasn’t been an easy task.

Elliott has been a completely different goaltender since his return from a one-game stint in the minors late last month. Before he went down to the Peoria Rivermen of the American Hockey League, he was hardly seeing any playing time and when he got into goal he wasn’t effective, going 3-6-1 with a 3.65 goals-against average.

But Elliott figured some things out and has been stonewalling opponents all month. His eight wins are the second-most by a Blues goaltender in April, one behind Brent Johnson (2001-02).

“Brian got rid of the anxiety of getting ready for a game,” Hitchcock explained after the morning skate. “He’s resurrected the season for us. He’s really been the story here in the month of April.”

Elliott’s turnaround also has coincided with the arrival of defenseman Jay Bouwmeester, who was acquired from Calgary on April 1.

For Bouwmeester, the change of scenery has been quite pleasant, considering he went from a scuffling Flames team to a squad that could soon be headed to the Stanley Cup playoffs.

“It’s been fun. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t,” Bouwmeester said.

Game notes

McGinn also had an assist, giving him his second three-point game of the season. … McLeod has scored four times in his last four games. … Backes had an assist to go with his sixth goal of the season.

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Tlusty scored twice, Semin had a goal and two assists and Staal chipped in with a pair of assists — all in the first period — to lead the Hurricanes to a 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday night.

Dan Ellis stopped 34 shots to make a 3-0 lead stand up and help Carolina to its first win over Tampa Bay this season.

“We came out hard, and that was the difference in the first period,” Tlusty said. “We kept it going throughout the game.”

Semin scored for Carolina 16 seconds in, taking a feed in the slot from Staal and whipping it over the shoulder of Lightning goalie Anders Lindback.

Tlusty’s first goal came shortly after the Hurricanes failed to score on a power play when he dumped the puck on goal from inside the blue line and it bounced off of Lindback’s pads and into the back of the net.

Later in the period, Tlusty was stationed in front of the net and was in the perfect position to direct a deflection off of Staal’s shot past Lindback.

“I don’t know what the problem is with us in first periods,” said Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman. “We always battle back hard from being down in games, which is the good part, but we would rather be up a few goals in the first instead of behind.”

The Lightning, who lost their sixth straight game, got on the board with a power-play goal from Steven Stamkos in the second period — his 28th goal of the season.

Martin St. Louis added a third-period goal to narrow the deficit to 3-2 but Ellis turned away the final 12 shots he faced, including point-blank opportunities by Eric Brewer, Ryan Malone and B.J. Crombeen.

“(Ellis) stepped up and had a good, strong game,” Hurricanes coach Kirk Muller said. “That’s what you need from him. His performance was good.

“They’ve had our number recently, but I think it was just important to us because we had a tough game last night and the guys have been playing so hard through the stretch. We got off track last night and we wanted to get back on track tonight and do the right things and we did.”

With less than 20 seconds left, the Lightning pulled Lindback and created a lot of traffic in front of Ellis but could not tie the game.

“I have gotten lit up by this team forever so this was a good night,” Ellis said. “They play with a lot of pride and so do we. We are not pushing for playoff spots but we are pushing to honor our fans, honor the crest on our jersey.”

St. Louis got his league-leading 42nd assist on Stamkos’ goal and his 55 points are only one behind injured Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby for the league lead.

Game notes

Staal thought he had a goal in the second period but officials declared his shot deflected off Brewer’s skate but did not completely cross the goal line. A video review upheld the call. … In their previous four contests this season, the Lightning outscored the Hurricanes 18-4. … Semin has 31 assists this season. … The Lightning outshot the Hurricanes 16-4 in the third period.

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Gregory Campbell scored twice in a three-goal first period, and the Bruins built a four-goal lead and then held on for a 5-4 victory over the reeling New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night.

The win moved the Bruins (56 points) a point ahead of the Montreal Canadiens in the Northeast Division with nine games to play in the lockout-shortened season. It also put them back in second place in the Eastern Conference, four points behind Pittsburgh, which has played one extra game.

“It’s certainly nice to be there, in first place,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said after his team won for the fifth time in six games. “That was a little bit of motivation tonight. That’s not to say we played a great game, but we accomplished a goal.”

The Devils didn’t accomplish anything in losing their eighth straight (0-4-4). They are four points out of a playoff spot with eight games to go. It’s certainly not what many expected from a team that played for the Stanley Cup last season.

“You know the spot you are in,” Devils coach Pete DeBoer said. “You have two choices. You roll over and die or you get up tomorrow and find a way to turn one win into six or seven or whatever it is going to take.”

To return to the postseason, the Devils need to play a lot better. But so do the Bruins if they are going to make some noise in the playoffs.

This wasn’t their best effort. They stopped playing for long stretches after taking a 4-0 lead early in the second period on Zdeno Chara’s goal.

“The way the game started was very weird, but we capitalized on our opportunities,” said Tyler Seguin, whose third-period goal was the winner. “After going up 3-0, we definitely took the foot off the gas a little bit and you saw what happened. They came back and almost stole one.”

The Bruins scored three times against Martin Brodeur in the opening 8:12. Daniel Paille and Campbell capped the initial outburst with short-handed goals in a 3:21 span.

Patrik Elias, Travis Zajac, Andy Greene and Matt D’Agostini scored against Anton Khudobin (24 saves) for New Jersey, whose losing streak is its longest since 1985-86.

D’Agostini’s goal got New Jersey within one with 37 seconds to play, but Boston didn’t allow another shot.

The first period was the difference, a session that included the sellout crowd of 17,625 booing the home team a number of times and giving Brodeur sarcastic cheers after routine saves.

Not only did the Bruins score three times early, they killed off four penalties, including an early 1:27 two-man advantage. They even had lumbering defenseman Johnny Boychuk miss a penalty shot, or it would have been three short-handed goals.

“Them taking penalties cost us the game,” said Brodeur, who finished with 13 saves. “We didn’t get many chances and they got a penalty shot and scored two goals. That was the big difference in the game.”

Campbell put Boston ahead 70 seconds after the opening faceoff, but it was Jaromir Jagr who did most of the work. The recently acquired 41-year-old controlled the puck between the circles despite being hounded. He eventually got a quick shot on Brodeur, and Campbell pounced on the rebound, sliding it under the 40-year-old goaltender, who was making his 10th straight start.

“We’re clicking a little bit more,” Campbell said. “Either it’s a slow start or a slow finish. Tonight it was a slow second period. We sat on our lead and got comfortable. Give them credit, they worked hard to get back into the game. The onus is on to stay with the game plan, despite the score.”

The Bruins then killed off the two-man disadvantage and Boychuk got his penalty shot just seconds after coming out of the box and being hooked by Marek Zidlicky. Brodeur followed the Boston defenseman’s slow-motion moves and stacked his pads to stop the shot.

It only slowed down the Bruins’ momentarily.

A bad pass by forward Steve Sullivan at the point on another power play set up a 2-on-1 break for the Bruins a little less than three minutes later. Brodeur made the initial stop on Paille, but he swatted the rebound out of the air for his eighth goal.

Campbell got his fourth with a deflection of a shot from the point by Andrew Ference.

“Getting goals, getting points, it’s a good feeling,” Campbell said. “I try to work hard every game. I’ve had a few chances throughout the year. I was happy tonight they went in.

Chara made it 4-0 with a power-play goal early in the second period, but the Devils didn’t give up.

Elias got them on the board with a deflection of a shot by Sullivan, and the momentum seemed to change after Devils’ defenseman Anton Volchenkov elbowed Brad Marchand in the head, drawing a five-minute major and a game misconduct. It left the Devils with four defenseman because Bryce Salvador did not return after being hit in the hand on a shot by Chara earlier in the period .

Instead of putting the game away, the Bruins got lax and Zajac scored shorthanded late in the period to cut the deficit to 4-2.

Greene scored on a slap shot 5:58 into the third period to cut the lead to a goal. But Seguin scored in close off a nice pass by Paille less than two minutes later to give Boston breathing room.

“We battled back,” Brodeur said. “… but nobody is happy about what happened today.”

Game notes

Boston is 12-1-1 when leading after the first period and 17-2-1 when scoring first. … Marchand was wobbly after the Volchenkov hit and he did not return. … The last time the Devils gave up two short-handed goals in a game was against Atlanta in 2006. … The Devils have not won since Ilya Kovalchuk hurt his right shoulder against the Panthers here on March 23. He hopes to return to the lineup soon. … Bruins C Patrice Bergeron (concussion) has started skating and hopes to return soon. … New Jersey recalled rookie goaltender Keith Kinkaid from Albany (AHL) earlier in the day because backup Johan Hedberg was sore.

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