Why We Wanted the Blues and Why We Didn’t Want the Blues

As we patiently wait the schedule release for the second round, there are a few things we do know. We know the Colorado Avalanche will take on the St. Louis Blues in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs

The Avs have had plenty of time to do a deep dive into their opponent. They last played May 9th, wrapping up the series in Nashville and have been home since. The Blues however wrapped up their series a little bit later, on May 12th. Both teams will have had some rest before the series starts on Monday or Tuesday.
Let’s do a deep dive ourselves into “why the Avs wanted the Blues” and “why they didn’t”

First up why the Avs didn’t want the Blues…

-The Blues have plenty of playoff experience. This is definitely a team that won’t let a bad goal or a bad game get to them. They were down 2-1 in the series against the Wild and came back to win three in a row. They are a mentally tougher team.

– They can score. In three out of their four wins, the team scored five goals. David Perron leads the team with nine points and is tied with Ryan O’Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko for goals at five. Perron and Tarasenko each had hat tricks last round.

– The Avs goalie friend Jordan Binnington is back in net for the Blues after getting start in Game 4. Avs will remember his close when he swung his stick right at Nazem Kadri’s head earlier this season. In three games against the Wild he had a 1.67 GAA and .943 save percentage. I don’t necessarily see the Avs scoring seven goals in a game this series. But who knows, I’m wrong a lot.

Why the Avs did want the Blues…

– The Avs were 2-1 against the Blues in the regular season this year and obviously they were successful against them last year in the playoffs, sweeping them in round one. Avs fans don’t like to bring up the Vegas series last year, so I won’t bring up round one either. Gotta keep it fair. But a 6-1 record in the last seven games is pretty good. The Avs’ all-time playoff record against the Blues is 9-1 (there was one game in the bubble in Edmonton in 2020).

– The Avs themselves, can also score as well. They scored 21 goals in four games including a couple of touchdown games. Cale Makar leads the team with 10 points and Nathan MacKinnon leads the way with five goals.

– The Avs are facing Jordan Binnington. Now hear me out, Binnington is a good goalie but as we saw earlier this year, it’s easy to get into his head. When the team plays physically and starts peppering him with shots, you can get him off his game.

• One of the Blues’ top D-men, Torey Krug, seems very doubtful for the series with a left knee injury.

The Avs will practice tomorrow in preparation for the Blues. Stay tuned for updates and news.