Avalanche Ready to Eliminate Blues

The Colorado Avalanche won the President’s Trophy for the best record during the regular season, and they could be one of the first teams to advance to the second round.

Colorado has taken a 3-0 series lead on the St. Louis Blues, with Game 4 set to take place on Sunday afternoon.

The St. Louis Blues are a recent Stanley Cup champion, but they have looked completely overmatched in this series. Colorado has outscored St. Louis by a count of 15-5 in the first three games of this series.

Colorado made a late surge to take control of the West Division, and that set them up for a nice matchup in the first round. St. Louis needed a great run in the last few weeks to even reach the playoffs, and they are not playing at full strength.

The Blues have been without center David Perron, and that has really hurt St. Louis on the offensive end of the ice. St. Louis does have plenty of veteran presence on the roster, and closing them out won’t be an easy task.

Not only have the Avalanche won the first three games in this series, but they have also won eight games overall.

Game 4 of the series is set for Sunday afternoon at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, and the Colorado Avalanche are the betting favorites. The winner of this series will advance to face the Las Vegas-Minnesota winner, which will be another close and exciting affair.

Kadiri Suspended Eight Games

The Colorado Avalanche will be without Nazeem Kadiri for the remainder of this series and for the next seven games in total. Kadiri has been suspended by the NHL for eight games after a rough check on Wednesday night.

The league called the play a “high, forceful check,” and one that warranted a suspension. Justin Faulk, a defenseman for the Blues, was the one that received the hit.

This is the sixth time that Kadiri has been given a suspension by the NHL and the third time that it has occurred in the playoffs. The fact that Kadiri is a repeat offender is one of the biggest reasons that this suspension will last at least parts of two series.

There is a chance that the suspension could ultimately be reduced as Kadiri is able to appeal it since it is longer than five games. Commissioner Gary Bettman will have the first hearing, and it could then move to a neutral arbitrator.

Kadiri was given a five-minute major penalty for the play and was ultimately disqualified from the game. Faulk was forced to leave the ice after the play and never made a return to the game.

It has been more than 18 months since Kadiri was last given a suspension from the NHL, and he is not considered a repeat offender. The league still took the history into account, and the fact that Faulk was unable to return to the game was a big blow.

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