Rewind: Avs and Blues Meet in First Series Since 2001

The Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues don't have an extensive history between each other in the postseason, but the times the clubs have met featured significant moments and pivotal game-deciding goals along the way.
The Avalanche and Blues have faced off in just one playoff series in their franchises' history, with the teams clashing in the 2001 Western Conference Final. Colorado jumped out to a quick lead in the series after defeating St. Louis 4-1 in Game 1 at home behind Joe Sakic's iconic penalty-shot tally that finished as the game-winner in the contest. It was the first penalty shot in the playoffs in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history.
From there on, the Avs seemed to have a stronghold on the best-of-seven series and proceeded to take Game 2 at the then-Pepsi Center by a score of 4-2.

The series shifted to St. Louis for Games 3 and 4 as the Blues looked to take advantage on home ice and even up the set. The club secured a 4-3 victory in overtime in the next matchup to tighten the round, but Colorado didn't fret and went on to finish off St. Louis in five games, stringing together two consecutive overtime wins to earn its second berth in the Stanley Cup Final in the span of six years.
Throughout the five-contest bout, Joe Sakic stole the show with eight points (four goals, four assists) and two game-winning goals, including the series-clinching marker in overtime in Game 5--the fourth of his NHL-record eight OT-winners in his career. Milan Hejduk wasn't too far behind the captain, as the forward registered three goals and four assists while putting together a three-point outing in Game 1 (two goals, one assist) and two-assist effort in Game 2.

For the Avalanche, the Western Conference Final had become a nemesis of the club after falling in Game 7 to the Dallas Stars in each of the previous two postseasons leading up to the 2000-01 campaign. Colorado was able to break the streak with its dominant performance versus St. Louis and went on to the Final, where the squad defeated the New Jersey Devils in seven games to hoist the Stanley Cup for the second time in its history.
Despite only meeting in one previous playoff series, the Avs and Blues have met one other time in the postseason, which came last year in the first contest of the round robin in the 2020 Stanley Cup Qualifiers.
With the teams fighting for final playoff seeding, the Avalanche was eager to gain the advantage over its division rival. The tightly-checked outing came down to the very last second, literally, as Nazem Kadri potted the game-winning goal with 0.1 second left in regulation to give the Avs the 2-1 win. The marker was just the second go-ahead tally at 19:59 of the third period in postseason history, joining the Carolina Hurricanes' Jussi Jokinen's marker with 0.2 seconds left against the New Jersey Devils in Game 4 of the 2009 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. Due to Jokinen's goal being clocked at 0.2, Kadri's tuck is unofficially the latest regulation goal in postseason history.

Colorado has gotten the best of the Blues in the short time they've faced each other in the playoffs, but the clubs also squared off in one of the more critical regular-season matchups of all time, which also had serious postseason implications.
The Avalanche hosted the Blues in game 82 to finish the 2017-18 campaign, and the winner of that contest would fill the final spot of the Western Conference playoff bracket. As the pressure mounted leading up to the outing, the Avs also had another barrier in front of them--they needed to defeat St. Louis in regulation to earn the position. With everything on the line, the Avalanche delivered a 5-2 victory to secure a berth into the postseason for the first time after a three-year drought.
Heading into the first-round meeting with the Blues, the Avs will look to continue their playoff success against their division rival.