(1C) Allau a (3C) Blues
8 pm ET; TNT, CBC, TVAS, SN
The avalanche leads the series to the best of 7 3-2
The St. The Louis Blues will try to avoid elimination when they host the Colorado Avalanche in Game 6 of the Second Round of the Western Conference at the Enterprise Center on Friday.
The Blues came back from a 3-0, 4-3 loss to defeat Avalanche 5-4 on Wednesday in overtime in Game 5 at the Denver Ball Arena. Striker Tyler Bozak scored 3:38 in overtime, and striker Robert Thomas scored his first two postseason goals for the Blues.
“I think you saw it at the end of the second (game period 5) and the third period. I thought we were skating well, I thought we had deep records,” Blues defender Nick Leddy said. “We’ve done a lot of things that we’ve done since I’ve been here for the last part of the year. You know, we’ve created a lot of things, we’ve had a lot of opportunities and half of the match “.
[RELATED: Complete Avalanche vs. Blues series coverage]
Colorado has not made it past the second round since 2002, when it lost to the Detroit Red Wings in seven games in the Western Conference Finals. No matter how disappointed the Avalanche was in not finishing the series on Wednesday, they plan to move on quickly.
“It’s the same as winning a game – enjoying it for three minutes and then moving on,” Avalanche striker Gabriel Landeskog said. “It’s the same here. You sit for three minutes and keep going. It’s as simple as that. It’s playoff hockey. It’s not supposed to be easy.”
The teams that have a 3-2 lead are 336-91 (78.7%) winning a series to the best of 7, including 4-3 in the first round of 2022.
Here are 3 keys to game 6:
1. Take advantage of home ice cream
The Blues were 26-10-5 at the Enterprise Center in the regular season, but there they are 2-3 in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Those two wins came in the first round against the Minnesota Wild. Of course, Avalanche has only won one home game in this series, but his back is not against the wall.
“I really don’t know what to think about things at home and on the road. They’re hockey,” said Blues coach Craig Berube. “I thought that match 3 at home (defeat 5-2) we started very well. And I liked our start in the match and some things happen, changes. Match 4 (defeat 6-3) is not so good. we ran in the first period, but we weathered the storm.
“We have a good start to the game here tonight. The last two games have started very well. They have been the best team in the first period. So we have to change course tonight. I think it’s important that we get out that we have a good first. “
2. Make MacKinnon’s effort worthwhile
Colorado striker Nathan MacKinnon had a monstrous game 5, scoring his second Stanley Cup Playoff hat-trick of his career and getting an assist. MacKinnon scored in an end-to-end run with 2:46 for the end of the third to give the Avalanche the lead, but they couldn’t hold on.
“Personally, I felt bad after the game,” Colorado defender Cale Makar said. “He turned his back on us and we should have won that game. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do it. “Right here, we don’t expect less, that’s for sure.”
3. Is Tarasenko a trend?
Vladimir Tarasenko had a relatively quiet second round against Avalanche (one assist) until the fifth game, when the striker scored two points (one goal, one assist), including the Blues’ first goal, which his teammate David Perron said he started the comeback. to win. St. Louis would take it back in Game 6, but said Tarasenko has done well throughout the series, even if the offense has not been there.
“I think he’s played pretty decent the whole time,” Perron said. “I think he’s getting his look and sometimes they go in, sometimes they don’t. He hit the crossbar in game 4, he had looks, I’m sure, other games too … Obviously we had to find a important goal for us, it gave us life and that’s what was important. “
Projected alignment of avalanches
Gabriel Landeskog – Nathan MacKinnon – Artturi Lehkonen
Valeri Nichushkin – Nazem Kadri – Mikko Rantanen
Andre Burakovsky – JT Compher – Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Logan O’Connor – Darren Helm – Andrew Cogliano
Devon Toews – Cale Makar
Jack Johnson – Josh Manson
Bowen Byram – Erik Johnson
Darcy Kuemper
Pavel Francouz
Scraped: Nico Sturm, Alex Newhook, Ryan Murray, Kurtis MacDermid, Trent Miner
Injured: Samuel Girard (sternum)
Projected Blues lineup
Brandon Saad – Ryan O’Reilly – David Perron
Pavel Buchnevich – Robert Thomas – Vladimir Tarasenko
Alexei Toropchenko – Brayden Schenn – Jordan Kyrou
Ivan Barbashev – Tyler Bozak – Nathan Walker
Nick Leddy – Colton Parayko
Niko Mikkola – Justin Faulk
Marco Scandella – Robert Bortuzzo
Ville Husso
Charlie Lindgren
Scratched: Logan Brown, Rosen Street, Scott Perunovich
Injured: Torey Krug (lower body)
Status report
Burakovski, a healthy scratch the last two games, is expected to return and replace Newhook, a striker. … Toropchenko, who was on the fourth line in game 5, and Barbashev, who was on the third line, will change places to start the game. … Krug took part in the morning skating, but will miss his ninth straight game since being injured in Game 3 of the first round.