On Saturday, the St Louis Blues lost, 5-2, to the Colorado Avalanche in Game 3 of their second round series.
The Blues also lost goalie Jordan Binnington to an jury while they were leading, 1-0, i the game.
A collision with Binnington by the Blues’ Calle Rosen and the Avs’ Nazem Kadri caused th4e apparent injury.
“I just see a loose puck, really,” Kadri said. “I mean, I was kind of just sitting behind him and just tried to poke it with my stick, and I think their defenseman kind of collided with me and pushed me into him. So you know, had that not been the case, I don’t think I would have hit him at all. It’s a loose puck. I’m just trying to bang it in.”
Darcy Kuemper made 29 saves in the Colorado win.
“I thought we were a little tentative out of the gate,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “And then as we kind of got playing a little bit, just every minute got a little bit better and got ourselves into the game. Not the ideal start you want. You could sense a little nervousness, but I give our guys a lot of credit for playing through that. Darcy came up with some big saves for us when we needed them tonight, because we had some breakdowns, especially at the end of the second.”
Artturi Lehkonen hit for a double for the Avs, including a late empty net goal that iced the win.
The Avs lost Samuel Girard in a broken sternum.
“Looking back on it, I mean, it’s a heavy collusion,” Bednar said. “He just catches him in a bad spot, but I thought it was legal check, to be honest with you. He kind of goes in on his head side, but he got a lot of body there. [Girard] was turned the wrong way, and he went in awkward, and it was a heavy check. Unfortunate, but to be honest, I think it was a legal check.”
Colton Parayko and Ryan O’Reilly scored for the Blues.
“I liked our game,” St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. “I thought we checked well. We did a lot of good things right. A lot of good things.
“The effort was there. I thought we played a solid game. Yeah, there were some stretches there where we didn’t maybe get pucks in deep enough for some stretches in the second and third period, but that’s hockey. I thought we worked them pretty good overall, but obviously we didn’t get enough goals. So we’ve got to do a better job.”
Colorado’s Logan O’Connor scored to tie the game, 1-1, after Parayko scored to give the Blues a 1-0 lead.
“I found out this morning, seen it on the lineup sheet,” O’Connor said. “It was nice to get the opportunity tonight.”
Kadri and Lehkonen scored to give the Avs a 3-1 lead.
O’Reilly got the Blues back within one at 3-2.
Gabriel Landeskog scored into an empty net after the Blues pulled the goalie, Ville Husso , who was unable to get back to the crease in time.
Lehkonen’s second goal was an empty netter for the 5-2 final.
Husso replaced Binnington and made 19 saves in relief.
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