DENVER -- The Colorado Avalanche have crawled back into the Western Conference playoff race at the halfway point of the season.

If they sneak in at the end, Wednesday night's game might prove to be a turning point.

Right winger Gabriel Landeskog scored at 4:44 of overtime, and the Avalanche rallied to beat the St. Louis Blues 4-3.

Centers Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene and Mikhail Grigorenko also scored for Colorado (20-18-3). Goaltender Semyon Varlamov had 35 saves.

The Avalanche pulled within two points of Nashville for the second wild card in the Western Conference. Although there are 41 games left, Friday's game against the Predators looms large.

"We're not going to fool ourselves and say it's not big," Landeskog said. "This is a playoff type of game. If we're going to be in the playoffs, these are the teams we have to beat."

It started with a big comeback against the Blues, which was capped with Landeskog's first goal since Dec. 15.

The back-and-forth overtime ended when St. Louis goalie Jake Allen came out to play a puck entering the zone. Center John Mitchell got there first and sent a pass across to Landeskog, who scored into an empty net for his ninth of the season.

"That's all Mitchie," Landeskog said. "He hustled and he beat Allen to the puck and turned around. I was yelling and screaming pretty loud. He slid it over and I was just hoping and praying that it wouldn't hop over my stick."

Right winger Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and an assist, and center Patrik Berglund and right winger David Backes also had goals for the Blues (23-14-6). Allen had 29 saves.

St. Louis has lost four straight, the last two in overtime.

"We're not closing off games," St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We're going through that phase where we've got to show more composure and close off games."

Varlamov went off for an extra skater with 2:10 remaining and MacKinnon scored the equalizer to make it 3-3 and force overtime with a shot from bottom of the right circle at 18:31. It was his 14th of the season.

"When you play like this you're going to get cheesy ones at times," MacKinnon said. "It felt good to tie it up and made for a fun night."

Duchene's backhander 4:48 into the game went off Allen's arm and it rolled off the goalie into the net to give Colorado a 1-0 lead. It was his team-leading 19th of the season.

Duchene was playing his first game since being named to the NHL All-Star Game on Jan. 31. It is his second All-Star honor and first since 2011, his second year in the league.

Wednesday's overtime gave Duchene some practice for the new 3-on-3 format for the All-Star Game.

"I'm excited for it," Duchene said. "I think it makes it more like a game than 5-on-5 would have been. I think it's going to be a good time."

Tarasenko tied it at 1-1 when he roofed a shot close in at 16:24 of the first. It was his 24th of the season.

Backes' power-play goal at 19:02 of the first made it 2-1, and the lead grew to 3-1 just 50 seconds into the second period when Berglund scored an unassisted goal. It was his first of the year.

Grigorenko got one back at 6:32 when he outmuscled Tarasenko in the slot and beat Allen high for his second of the season to make it 3-2.

"We played a pretty solid game for the first half and they make a little bit of a push," Backes said. "They get that (second goal) and that gives them life, makes it a one-goal game."

NOTES: Colorado claimed D Andrew Bodnarchuk off waivers from Columbus on Tuesday and he was in the lineup against St. Louis. He had two assists in 16 games with the Blue Jackets this season. ... St. Louis C Kyle Brodziak was on the fourth line after sitting out Monday against Ottawa because of fatigue. He previously missed five games after his leg was cut by a skate. ... Avalanche D Erik Johnson is expected to miss one to two weeks with a lower-body injury suffered in the second period of Monday's win over Los Angeles. ... St. Louis RW Scottie Upshall was scratched.