“Big picture, it’s frustrating,” Binnington said after the Blues lost their fourth in a row, by a 4-2 margin to Colorado.

“Those are games at a critical time in our season that we want to win,” he said. “We know we need the points. We just gotta keep finding a way. Fighting every night. Because we’re not gonna go quietly. No way.”

For half of Saturday afternoon’s game at Stan Kroenke’s Ball Arena, the Blues looked pretty lifeless and tentative. As a team, they just didn’t look into it.

And yeah, we get that the Avalanche come out strong at home. We all know they’re the defending Stanley Cup champions. But among all of their other issues, this Blues team just seems to lack feistiness.

They were down 3-0 for the fourth game in a row when a scrum ensued behind the St. Louis net. And there was Binnington — in full goalie regalia, of course — right in the middle of it. Was he going after Avalanche winger Logan O’Connor?

“I just felt like we could use some energy,” Binnington said. “I just try and do everything I can to win. It’s been a tough stretch, and I’m trying to find a way like we’ve said over and over again.”

As the officiating crew sorted through the chaos — they would issue three penalties against Colorado and two against St. Louis after the ruckus — Binnington skated towards center ice. With boos raining down in his direction, he gestured with both arms to the fans, imploring them to bring it on.

“Yeah. Let’s go,” Binnington said. “We’re in it. We’re fighting. We’re not giving up. That’s the mentality.”

The volume of boos increased. For much of the game, there were boos whenever Binnington touched the puck. If there were a fan vote, Binnington might be named the most disliked player in the league. Or at least he’d give Boston’s Brad Marchand a run for his money.

He appears to be especially disliked in Colorado, but Binnington doesn’t mind. Not one bit.

“No, I love it,” Binnington said. “You know that. It was a fun atmosphere. That was loud — 18,000 people hating on you. I don’t mind that.”

He’s done things of this nature many times over his career. The common theme: In almost all cases, they’re kind of shock therapy to get the team going. Sometimes it doesn’t work — like the time earlier this season when a frustrated coach Craig Berube said that Binnington should worry about just stopping pucks.

And truth be told, this isn’t Binnington’s best year at stopping pucks. But his “compete” level never wavers. After a dead first half of the game, it helped bring the team back to life.

“I’m sure it did,” Berube said. “He played a great game. He’s emotionally involved in the game. Sometimes that’s why that stuff happens.”

Brayden Schenn scored on the ensuing power play to make it a 3-1 game. Midway through the third period, Ivan Barbashev stole the puck in the neutral zone and scored on a breakaway to make it 3-2.

The Blues put plenty of pressure on over the final minutes. They came close to tying the game on several occasions — including once when Evan Rodriques kicked a rebound of a Schenn shot out of harm’s way in the crease.

But in the end, it was a 4-2 Blues loss after Matt Nieto’s empty-netter with 2.7 seconds remaining. Losing four straight for the first time since early December, the Blues fell below .500 for the season at 23-24-3.

“We were close,” Binnington said. “We almost tied it up a couple times. We were in the game and that’s important. If that’s how we’re gonna lose — by playing hard and doing the right things — and it doesn’t go our way, so be it.

“But we have to do everything in our power to find a way to win. Yeah, hopefully, we can bring this with us going into the last game before the bye week. Just put it all out there and regroup.”

The Blues play at Winnipeg on Monday and then don’t play again until Feb. 11 as they go through the All-Star break and their bye week.

“The positive is we had a good last 25 to 30 minutes (against Colorado) I would say,” Binnington said. “We had character. We played hard. We were playing together and backing each other up. So that’s positive, and hopefully, we can bring that moving forward.”

But why did it take Binnington theater to get the team going? Why so lifeless at the start of this game, and the previous three?

“I don’t know,” Barbashev said. “We get down. You’re right, it’s just kind of lifeless. It’s something we gotta do better as a team, just to have life on the bench.”

And on the ice.

“If we had that answer, we’d change things,” Blues defenseman Torey Krug said. “It’s just about showing up on time and having pride playing in this league. It’s a gift and it’s tough to do.

“You have to show up right when the puck drops otherwise you’ll get exposed. That’s what’s happened the last few games. We gotta show up with the right mentality and don’t wait until you’re behind a couple goals to show it.”

Early in the second period, Krug’s frustration showed when he dropped gloves and attempted to fight Nieto. But Nieto didn’t look like he was interested in fighting, and the two players ended up with just two-minute minors for roughing.

Krug described the scuffle as: “Nothing. It’s whatever. I didn’t like how I was bumped into. Nothing crazy.”

However, it will take something crazy, or close to it, for this Blues season to get on track.