With their season on the line, the St. Louis Blues will head back to Colorado to take on the Avalanche in a crucial Game 5 on Wednesday night.
They'll have to quickly put Monday's game behind them. In that contest, Nazem Kadri scored a hat trick - including two of Colorado's four unanswered goals in a 4:53 span in the second period - to pave the way for a 6-3 loss at Enterprise Center.
With temperatures rising and intensity dialing up, the pressure is on for the Blues to stay in the moment and focus on one game at a time. Having already won at Ball Arena earlier in the series, the team knows what it takes to steal a game in opposing territory.
"We'll regroup tomorrow, talk a little bit and look at some stuff," Blues Head Coach Craig Berube said after Game 4. "We have to play better. We can. We went in (to Colorado) and won Game 2. The team is capable of doing it."
The Blues power play reignited Monday night after going scoreless for the first time this postseason in Game 3, getting back-to-back goals from David Perron and Pavel Buchnevich to close out the second period.
NOTEWORTHY STATS
- The Blues have come back from a 3-1 deficit to win a series twice in franchise history: 1999 vs. Phoenix and 1991 vs. Detroit.
- Colorado has lost a series after taking a 3-1 lead twice in franchise history: 2003 vs. Minnesota and 1998 vs. Edmonton.
- In NHL history, teams that hold a 3-1 lead in a best-of-seven series hold a series record of 296-31 (.905). This includes an 0-1 mark in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs, when New York came back from down 3-1 to defeat Pittsburgh in the first round.
THEY SAID IT
"We had some pushes at times, did some good things, but (we were) not nearly consistent enough. It's unfortunate, but we get the next game. That's our focus. We have to leave it all out there now - it's do or die." - Ryan O'Reilly after Game 4
BLUE NOTES
The Blues have scored first in all four games of the series vs. Colorado thus far... David Perron recorded his fourth multi-goal game of the Playoffs in Game 4, tying Brett Hull (1991 and 1990) for most in a single postseason in franchise history... Perron's eight goals this playoffs are the most by a Blue through 10 games of a postseason since Brett Hull (11 in 1990)... The Blues' eight-game power-play goal streak to open the 2022 Playoffs was the longest postseason streak since 1981. The Blues lead the NHL this postseason with a power-play conversion rate of 35.3% (12 for 34).
Last week's Game 2 home loss to the St. Louis Blues appeared costly for the Colorado Avalanche. They headed east hoping to regroup.
Now, after a successful -- and controversial -- trip to St. Louis for Games 3 and 4, it looks like the Stanley Cup favorites are on the brink of moving on.
The Avalanche swept the two games from the Blues in St. Louis on Saturday and Monday to take a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference semifinal series, and they can close it out when the teams meet for Game 5 on Wednesday night in Denver.
A win at home, where Colorado has lost just six times in regulation since the start of the regular season, will put the Avalanche into the conference finals for the first time in 20 years.
Joe Sakic was the captain of that Colorado team that lost in seven games to Detroit in the conference finals, and he is the only one still around -- as the team vice president and general manager. After being eliminated three straight years in the second round, he has a team that can overcome that obstacle.
Beating St. Louis again will take an effort similar to the past two games. The Avalanche were the better team in those 5-2 and 6-3 wins, but fuel was added when Nazem Kadri and Calle Rosen ran into goaltender Jordan Binnington on Saturday night, knocking him out of the rest of the series.
Critical comments by Binnington and Blues coach Craig Berube after that game were motivation for Kadri, who had a hat trick in Game 4.
"It started with their head coach, probably. He made some comments that I wasn't a fan of," said Kadri, who has received threats and racist messages from anonymous people. "I guess he's never heard of bulletin-board material."
St. Louis has done its best to try to shut down Colorado's top line but others, like Kadri, have stepped up. The Blues will have to increase their intensity after Berube said his team was outworked Monday night.
"It's pretty simple. I don't know why. We got outskated," Berube said. "They outskated us. Got to every loose puck. Lost a lot of puck battles."
The Blues did avoid losing David Perron for Game 5. The league fined him $5,000 for his cross-check on Kadri in the second period of Game 4. Perron has four goals in the past three games and has been their best offensive player.
While St. Louis is adjusting to the loss of Binnington, the Avalanche bounced back quickly from losing defenseman Samuel Girard for the rest of the playoffs. He suffered a broken sternum in Game 3.
Jack Johnson stepped into the lineup for Girard and logged 15:07 of ice time. Coach Jared Bednar can also use Kurtis MacDermid or Ryan Murray as the sixth defenseman if needed.
The franchises have been in this position before. Colorado and St. Louis met in the 2001 Western Conference finals, and the Avalanche held a 3-1 lead after a Game 4 road win before they eliminated the Blues in Game 5 on an overtime goal from Sakic.
