Avalanche defeat Blues in Game 3, take series lead

ST. LOUIS --The Colorado Avalanche defeated the St. Louis Blues, who lost goalie Jordan Binnington early in the first period because of a
lower-body injury
, 5-2 in Game 3 of the Western Conference Second Round at Enterprise Center on Saturday.

Binnington, who allowed four goals on 85 shots in the first two games of the series, sustained the injury at 6:45 after he was knocked over by teammate Calle Rosen and Avalanche forward Nazem Kadri, who was skating hard for a rebound.
"I just see a loose puck, really," Kadri said. "I mean, I was kind of just sitting behind him and just tried to poke it with my stick, and I think their defenseman kind of collided with me and pushed me into him. So you know, had that not been the case, I don't think I would have hit him at all. It's a loose puck. I'm just trying to bang it in."
St. Louis, which was coming off a 4-1 win in Game 2, was leading 1-0 at the time of the injury.
"It's always tough," Blues captain Ryan O'Reilly said. "Obviously, 'Binner's' the heart and soul, playing unbelievable, but I think it kind of took the momentum away and took us a little too long to kind of get it back going again. Things like that happened. We're a deep team, and we could have done a better job of getting the momentum back and adjusting."
RELATED: [Complete Avalanche vs. Blues series coverage]
Artturi Lehkonen scored twice, Kadri had a goal and an assist, and Darcy Kuemper made 29 saves for the Avalanche, who are the No. 1 seed from the Central Division.
"I thought we were a little tentative out of the gate," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "And then as we kind of got playing a little bit, just every minute got a little bit better and got ourselves into the game. Not the ideal start you want. You could sense a little nervousness, but I give our guys a lot of credit for playing through that. Darcy came up with some big saves for us when we needed them tonight, because we had some breakdowns, especially at the end of the second."

Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard sustained a
broken sternum and is out for the remainder
of the Stanley Cup Playoffs after he was checked hard behind his net by Blues forward Ivan Barbashev 1:42 into the first.
"Looking back on it, I mean, it's a heavy collusion," Bednar said. "He just catches him in a bad spot, but I thought it was legal check, to be honest with you. He kind of goes in on his head side, but he got a lot of body there. [Girard] was turned the wrong way, and he went in awkward, and it was a heavy check. Unfortunate, but to be honest, I think it was a legal check."
O'Reilly had a goal and an assist for the Blues, the No. 3 seed from the Central. Ville Husso, who was replaced by Binnington in Game 4 of the first round, made 19 saves.
"I liked our game," St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. "I thought we checked well. We did a lot of good things right. A lot of good things.
"The effort was there. I thought we played a solid game. Yeah, there were some stretches there where we didn't maybe get pucks in deep enough for some stretches in the second and third period, but that's hockey. I thought we worked them pretty good overall, but obviously we didn't get enough goals. So we've got to do a better job."
Colorado leads the best-of-7 series 2-1. Game 4 will be here on Monday.
Colton Parayko gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 3:55 of the first when his slap shot off a face-off win by O'Reilly deflected in off the snapped stick of Devon Toews.
Logan O'Connor scored his first NHL playoff goal to tie it 1-1 at 10:57. Josh Manson gloved down a lofted pass by Darren Helm, and as the Blues tried to knock the puck away it deflected to O'Connor, who chipped a shot glove side on Husso.
O'Connor was scratched the first two games of this series.
"I found out this morning, seen it on the lineup sheet," O'Connor said. "It was nice to get the opportunity tonight."
Kadri made it 2-1 at 13:38 of the second period, redirecting a shot from Cale Makar six seconds after a power play expired.

Lehkonen pushed it to 3-1 at 17:15, beating Husso short side on a 2-on-1 after Blues forward Brayden Schenn missed on two chances moments before.
O'Reilly cut it to 3-2 with 30 seconds left in the second when he scored on a rebound in the slot.
Gabriel Landeskog shot into an empty net before Husso, who was on his way to the bench, could get back in position to make it 4-2 at 17:52 of the third period.
Lehkonen then added another empty-net goal at 19:02 for the 5-2 final.
NOTES: Berube said Binnington was still being evaluated and that no information would be available until Sunday. … Makar has seven points (one goal, six assists) in three road games this postseason.