Avs Look to Take Momentum Into Game 2 Against Blues

With the early lead, the Colorado Avalanche will try to go up 2-0 in the series tonight before the best-of-seven set against the St. Louis Blues shifts to Missouri.
The Avs scored three times in the third period to win Game 1 by a final score of 4-1 on Monday night, and Colorado's top line of Gabriel Landeskog (one goal, two assists), Nathan MacKinnon (two goals, one assist) and Mikko Rantanen (two assists) combined for eight points and a plus-8 rating to lead the team.
Tonight's Game 2 is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. MT at Ball Arena before the teams head to St. Louis to meet in Games 3 and 4 on Friday and Sunday.

Colorado held a 50-23 edge in shots on goal in Monday's outing, a trend that was consistent during the regular season for the club. The squad led all teams with a plus-514 shot differential, far ahead of the next closest team (Boston, plus-350).
The Avs finished second in the NHL in shots per game (34.6) and first in shots-against per game (25.4) and out-shot their opponents by an average of 9.18 shots per game, the highest differential since the Detroit Red Wings in 2007-08 (10.85).
The first goal of the Round 1 series came by way of a Cale Makar shot from the point on the power play while Mikko Rantanen was screening the Blues goaltender, an aspect of the game that Colorado wants to continue to improve on.
"We've talked about it and I think that's something we can do a better job at," Joonas Donskoi said of having more traffic in front of the net. "They're boxing out hard, so we just have to find ways to get in front of their goalie and get some rebound goals."
The Blues did not hold a morning skate today and issued a statement beforehand that head coach Craig Berube and the players won't be made available to the media until after tonight's game due to discrepancies in COVID-19 test results. The team noted that additional testing is needed for players and more information should be available this afternoon.
"We prepared for them for four days getting ready for all their players, not just their recent lineup, so we are prepared for whatever lineup they throw at us," said Bednar. "We give our guys a little bit of information before the game once we know what it is, but it doesn't change anything on our end on who is playing and who's not."

LINEUP NOTES

Head coach Jared Bednar did not give any updates on what his lineup for Game 2 could look like, but he did say on Tuesday that the team got through Game 1 healthy.
Philipp Grubauer was the first goalie off the ice from morning skate and will start in net for Colorado, suiting up in his 21st playoff game for the franchise. With his appearance in Game 1, he moved into sole possession of fourth place in postseason games played by a goalie in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history.
"We will evaluate it on a game-to-game basis," Bednar said of the lineup. "I don't think there was anything in that game that we weren't expecting. I thought we handled it well, we played well, we played physical, competed hard in all the right areas. If we need to make any adjustment to our lineup at some point then we will do it, but again, we are just kind of evaluating that on a game-to-game basis and we will pick the lineup that we feel gives us a chance to win."

NOTEWORTHY

The Avalanche/Nordiques franchise is 17-10 all-time in a best-of-seven playoff series when winning the first game, 16-5 since moving to Denver.
Colorado/Quebec owns a 154-135-1 all-time record in 290 playoff games, including a 119-90-1 mark in 210 contests since arriving in Denver. The Avalanche's 119 postseason wins since relocating trail only Detroit (145) and Pittsburgh (133).
The franchise is 40-31 all-time in playoff overtime, with a 30-22 mark since 1995-96. Five current players have scored a playoff OT goal.
Brandon Saad leads all skaters on Colorado's roster with 82 career playoff games.
Nathan MacKinnon has 57 points (22 goals, 35 assists) in 41 career playoff games, the highest points-per-game average (1.39) among active players and the fourth-highest in Stanley Cup Playoff history (minimum 25 games played). Mikko Rantanen is eighth on the list at 1.21 (41 points in 34 games). Cale Makar (22 points in 26 games) leads all active defensemen in points per game at 0.85, the seventh-highest all-time in postseason history.

ONE TIMERS

Forward Joonas Donskoi on Game 1: "I think we did a pretty good job most of the game. Good offensively, created a lot of scoring chances, but obviously there are some things we want to fix going into tonight and we talked about it as a team. It's all about getting better every night so there are some things that I think we can improve for tonight's game."
Defenseman Patrik Nemeth on what he has seen from Tyson Jost: "I think he's grown a lot since I was here last time. I think he's skating really well and he's got a good stick, with the up-ice pressure he is good with that. He's a smart player and he's been evolving his game a lot, and I think that he is a lot better this time around. He's a really important player for us."

Head coach Jared Bednar on the late game: "I mean the players obviously get a little bit more rest, they come back and they will be prepared and ready to go. Our morning stays the same, they just get a little bit more time at home. Some guys come to the rink a little bit earlier because it's such a late game, but everything stays the same on our end."