Alright, let’s do this one last time, for this road trip anyway. Tonight, the Colorado Avalanche head into St. Louis to take on the Blues. The Avs wrap up a four-game road trip with this game and look to go perfect on this trip. This is the fourth and final regular-season matchup between these two clubs, with Colorado currently leading the regular-season series 2-1.
Colorado Avalanche (43-20-5)
Colorado is currently locked in a battle for the top spot in the Central Division with the Dallas Stars and the Winnipeg Jets. None of these teams seem to be losing consistently right now, so every point matters night in and night out. The Avs are currently riding a six-game win streak, their most recent outing being a 3-2 overtime win against the Edmonton Oilers. That game saw Artturi Lehkonen make his return to the lineup after missing the last few games due to illness. Lehkonen gave everyone a little bit of déjà-vu as he scored the overtime game-winning goal with just 0.5 seconds left in the overtime period.
That game also saw Sean Walker get his first and second goals in an Avalanche uniform, as he scored both goals in regulation for Colorado in that game. Alexandar Georgiev was also absolutely stellar for the Avs in that game. It looks like he’ll get a well-earned night off with Justus Annunen going in net here tonight.
Projected lines
Valeri Nichushkin (13) – Nathan MacKinnon (29) – Mikko Rantanen (96)
Artturi Lehkonen (62) – Casey Mittelstadt (37) – Jonathan Drouin (27)
Miles Wood (28) – Ross Colton (20) – Zach Parise (9)
Brandon Duhaime (12) – Andrew Cogliano (11) – Yakov Trenin (73)
Devon Toews (7) – Cale Makar (8)
Samuel Girard (49) – Josh Manson (42)
Jack Johnson (3) – Sean Walker (26)
Justus Annunen (60)
St. Louis Blues (36-29-3)
St. Louis is locked in a battle for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference at the moment. Currently, the Blues are sitting at 75 points on the year, and are currently four points back of the second spot in the wild-card standings. The Vegas Golden Knights currently occupy that spot with 79 points on the season. In theory, it’s definitely doable for the Blues to catch the Golden Knights. To do that, however, they not only need to win their games, but they would also need a few things to break their way.
You have to play the games that you’re given first, however, and St. Louis has the opportunity to get two more points in their race for a playoff spot if they beat Colorado. With both of these teams needing two points for their respective scenarios in the standings, we should be in for a hard-fought matchup tonight. It’ll be Jordan Binnington in net across from Annunen tonight as well.
Projected lines
Brayden Schenn (10) – Robert Thomas (18) – Jordan Kyrou (25)
Brandon Saad (20) – Pavel Buchnevich (89) – Jake Neighbours (63)
Zack Bolduc (76) – Kevin Hayes (12) – Kasperi Kapanen (42)
Alexey Toropchenko (13) – Oskar Sundqvist (70) – Nathan Walker (26)
Nick Leddy (4) – Colton Parayko (55)
Torey Krug (47) – Matt Kessel (51)
Scott Perunovich (48) – Justin Faulk (72)
Jordan Binnington (50)
Broadcast details
Time: 6:00 p.m. MST
Watch: Altitude 2, Bally Sports Midwest, ESPN+ (Out of Market Only)
Listen: Altitude Sports Radio, 950 FM
Opponent’s beat: Blue Note Hockey