Avalanche vs. St. Louis Blues Game 5: Three keys to victory for Colorado

The Avalanche is on the cusp of advancing to the Western Conference final for the first time in 20 years — since 2002 when the club was led by future Hall of Famers Joe Sakic, Patrick Roy and Rob Blake, plus retired jersey members Adam Foote and Milan Hejduk.

The Avs lead the St. Louis Blues 3-1 in the conference semifinal series and will advance to play Edmonton or Calgary in the next closest step to the Stanley Cup Final by defeating the Blues in Game 5 on Wednesday night at Ball Arena.

Three keys for Colorado:

1) Score first, set the pace. The Avs got out to an incredible start in Game 3, dominating play by putting the Blues on their heels. The Avs were first to most loose pucks or won 50-50 battles for them, then they moved it to teammates with relative ease. They outshot St. Louis 15-3 in the first period, and even though the Blues held a 1-0 lead, Colorado knew if it could continue at that level the score would take care of itself. The game plan will be the same on Wednesday, and with the Avs playing in front of a boisterous crowd that will undoubtedly shower Nazem Kadri with love, an early goal would help the Blues realize the end of their season is imminent. Colorado hasn’t scored first in this series.

2) Pour it on Perron. Blues first-line winger David Perron has four goals in the series, three on the power play, and is a goal shy of Edmonton’s Evander Kane with a playoff-high 10 tallies. The Avs must defend Perron better from the left circle on the power play, where the righty has beat goalie Darcy Kuemper three times. At the same time, Colorado can’t cheat with Perron because lefty Brayden Schenn is equally as dangerous from the right circle as well as Ryan O’Reilly from the goalmouth. The Avs also need to stay relatively disciplined against Perron, the chippiest player in the series thus far. He took a cross-checking minor against Kadri in Game 4 and tried to elbow him in the head after Kadri’s second goal. Perron also slashed the stick out of Devon Toews’ hands before pitch-forking in the groin area. Bottom line: Don’t take the extra penalty in scraps with Perron or any other Blues player.

3) Big three scoring. Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar combined for eight goals in the four-game sweep against Nashville but neither has scored in the St. Louis series. And Mikko Rantanen, the Avs’ goal-scoring leader in the regular season (35), has just one goal in the playoffs — a meaningless empty-netter with 2 seconds remaining in Game 4. St. Louis has to be worried that if these three guys light the lamp on Wednesday, the series will undoubtedly end. MacKinnon, Makar and Rantanen also recognize that and, if nothing else, they need to snap their slumps. Colorado’s depth scoring and Nazem Kadri’s four goals against St. Louis have been enough to win three of the first four games. If the go-to guys can find the back of the net in Game 5, the Avs will be Canada-bound.

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