This series was the 1st to finish in Round 1. It was a pretty one-sided series as the Colorado Avalanche swept the St. Louis Blues. Arguably the best team in the National Hockey League, they showed that they are truly the best. The Avs top 3, Mikko Rantanen, Nathan MacKinnon, and Gabriel Landeskog had an average of 8 total points in 4 games. They could not be contained unlike how the Jets slowed down McDavid and Draisaitl and created havoc for Craig Berubee’s Blues team. Going into the 2nd round, they will be rested and ready for the Golden Knights.
In Game 1, it was a 3 point performance for both Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon. They ended up winning with a 3 goal 3rd period to prevail 4-1 in Game on home ice. Philipp Grubauer had a lovely 22 save game and was pretty good all series long.
In Game 2, it was all Nathan MacKinnon as it was a heck of a performance by the top line. They won 6-3 but there was more to that win. MacKinnon earned a hat trick as well as an assist for a total of 4 points out of a max 6. Also, Nazem Kadri got suspended for a big 8 games for an illegal head hit to Justin Faulk. He missed Game 3 & 4 and will miss 6 games of the 2nd Round if it goes to Game 5 & 6. They still played very well throughout that series but lets see if it will impact them in the 2nd Round.
Game 3 was all Colorado again. This time Ryan Graves was the topper in points for them in that game with a goal and a pair of assists. Being away in St. Louis’s stadium didn’t seem to affect them a tiny little bit at all. It was 5-1 in that game and now they were one game from clinching the 2nd Round.
Home ice advantage did not help at all in Game 4 for the Blues. It was a storming performance by the Avalanche as they closed out the series with a 5-2 win. The Blues held on but a 3 goal 3rd period for the Avs led them to the win. Grubauer, like in every game this series was fabulous and only gave up a total of 7 goals in 4 games.
In that series, MacKinnon had 9 points, Landeskog had 8, and Rantanen had 7. It was a shiny performance by their top 3 and this team averaged a total of 5 goals per game. They had a total of 20 goals while St. Louis could only manage to get 7. They are favored to win the Stanley Cup and it was a dominating act by them.
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