Blues at Avalanche
The St. Louis Blues jolted the Colorado Avalanche's postseason hopes early last week and can possibly eliminate their Central Division rivals from postseason contention when they pay a visit to Pepsi Center on Sunday. The Avalanche have dropped four of their last five contests and trail Minnesota by five points for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference with four games to play.
The Blues have plenty on the line as they pursue first-place Dallas for the division title, sitting four points back of the Stars with four games remaining and one in hand. St. Louis had its five-game winning streak snapped in Friday's 6-5 loss to Boston, a spectacular stretch during which it permitted one goal while posting four straight shutouts. Colorado won its first three meetings with the Blues this season before suffering a 3-1 defeat at St. Louis on Tuesday, and followed that up with a lackluster effort in a 4-2 home loss to Washington three nights later. "When you don't play .500 hockey at home, it's hard to make the playoffs," Avalanche coach Patrick Roy told reporters.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBCSN
ABOUT THE BLUES (46-23-9): Coach Ken Hitchock tinkered with his lines at Friday practice, replacing Jaden Schwartz with Alex Steen on a unit with leading scorer Vladimir Tarasenko and Jori Lehtera. Hitchcock told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he may shift Schwartz to a line with the red-shot Paul Stastny and Troy Brouwer while Dmitrij Jaskin will move alongside Patrik Berglund and captain David Backes. Jake Allen, who posted a shutout at Washington in his last start, takes a 1-2-1 record and 3.40 goals-against average versus Colorado into Sunday's game.
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (39-35-4): Defenseman Nikita Zadorov sustained a concussion when he absorbed a shot to the head from Washington's Tom Wilson during the second period Friday, a check that did not draw a penalty. “I didn't like the hit because, to me, it was a blindside hit,” Roy told reporters Saturday. “I think it was a head shot, should have been penalized. That’s how I see it.” Captain Gabriel Landeskog scored one goal and set up another in Friday's defeat, but he has tallied only once in 19 games versus St. Louis.
OVERTIME
1. Stastny had recorded four goals and 12 assists over his last 11 games.
2. Avalanche RW Jarome Iginla has reached the 20-goal plateau for the 17th time in his career and is one shy of tying Bobby Hull (610) for 16th place on the all-time list.
3. Blues D Carl Gunnarsson (lower body), who has missed the last three games, could rejoin the lineup Sunday.