The Colorado Avalanche are one win away from their first Western Conference Final since 2001 after a big 6-3 win over St. Louis Monday night.
Nazem Kadri had a huge night, recording four points (three goals and an assist) against the Blues in game 4. This was Kadri’s first career playoff hat trick.
The Avalanche brought back the aggressive offensive strategy they had in game one, outshooting the Blues 15-3 in the first period (eventually outshooting St. Louis 37-20 in the game). Despite this, the Blues had a 1-0 lead after the first period, courtesy of an early David Perron goal.
“I’m not sure we ever had control of the game, even though we scored first,” Perron said. “We didn’t make them defend hard enough. We had some pushes, but not nearly consistent enough to win a hockey game.”
Colorado would come out with the same energy in the second period, scoring four straight goals in 4:14. The first goal came from Eric Johnson about 2:44 into the second period. That was Johnson’s first goal of the 2022 playoffs.
One minute and 23 seconds later, Kadri would give Colorado their first lead in the game.
“I wanted to come out tonight and really put a mark on this game,” said Kadri, who also had an assist. ” … I tried to do that as best as possible. Sometimes you’ve got to be patient and you’ve got to wait. I was able to strike early in the second period and was able to get the mojo going, in terms of individually and as a team, so it felt amazing. Especially to do it on the road, it was pure.”
Just 19 seconds after Kadri’s goal, Devon Toews extends Colorado’s lead to two goals. Shortly after the Toews goal Pavel Buchnevich and Perron each received 2-minute minors. Buchnevich for roughing and Perron for cross-checking Nazem Kadri.
Colorado would not score on the 5-on-3 power play, but shortly after the penalties to Perron and Buchnevich expired, Kadri scored his second goal of the night to give Colorado a 4-1 lead.
St. Louis would respond with two goals in 2:15 to get within a goal. The first of these was from Perron, his second of the night, and the second coming from Buchnevich, his first of the playoffs. Both goals coming on the power play. The Blues went 2-for-3 on the power play in game 3.
That would be all for the Blues’ offense as St. Louis was held to five shots on goal in the third. Colorado would score two more goals on 9 shots, including Kadri’s hat trick and Mikko Rantanen’s tally to give Colorado the 6-3 win.
“We got out-skated for most of the game 5-on-5. It’s pretty simple,” St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. “I don’t know why. We got out-skated. They out-skated us. Got to every loose puck. Lost a lot of puck battles.”
“Loved our game 5-on-5, loved it,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “Right from the drop of the puck, we had a great first period, great second period. We get into penalty trouble, they score a couple of goals on the power play, things get tight, things get hairy.”
Game 5 is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday, May 25, at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado.
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