Rapid Recap: Avalanche 2, Blues 1

Nazem Kadri scored with a tenth of a second remaining in the third period to give the Colorado Avalanche a 2-1 win over the St. Louis Blues in the first round-robin game of the 2020 Stanley Cup Qualifiers at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta.
Kadri knocked in a rebound just as time expired during a Colorado power play after St. Louis' Alexander Steen was called for hooking. Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon assisted on Kadri's tally, which had a lengthy review from the NHL situation room in Toronto before it was finally determined that the puck completely crossed the goal line prior to triple zeros showing on the game clock.
It was Kadri's fourth career playoff goal, and his first with Colorado.

The Avs staged a comeback victory after the Blues' David Perron opened the game's scoring with a power-play marker of his own with 3:14 left in the first period. The outing remained 1-0 in favor of St. Louis until Ryan Graves scored his first career postseason goal at 5:33 of the third frame.
Mikko Rantanen also assisted on Graves' tally. Avalanche goaltender Philipp Grubauer made 31 saves and was perfect in the final two periods of play.
Highlights
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Photo Gallery
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Statistics
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Postgame Notes
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Video: Coach Bednar Postgame

THE GOALS

1st Period
16:46 STL (0-1) - PPG, David Perron's slap shot from the left circle opened the game's scoring
2nd Period
No Scoring
3rd Period
5:33 COL (1-1) - After whiffing on a pass during a 3-on-2 rush, Ryan Graves re-gathered the puck and fired it into the net to tie the game at 1-1.
19:59 COL (2-1) - PPG, Nazem Kadri scored on a rebound with a tenth of a second remaining in regulation to give Avs the win.
Final: Avalanche - 2 | Blues - 1

3 STARS

1. Philipp Grubauer (COL): Made 31 saves in the win
2. Nazem Kadri (COL): Scored the game-winner in the final second
3. Jordan Binnington (STL): Picked up the loss despite making 36 saves

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 1 for 5
St. Louis: 1 for 4

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Philipp Grubauer stopped 31-of-32 shots faced, including all 28 in the final two periods of play.
St. Louis: Jordan Binnington denied made 36 saves but couldn't stop the last shot he faced.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

Nazem Kadri's tally marked only the second time in NHL postseason history that a go-ahead goal was scored in the final second of regulation. Jussi Jokinen of the Carolina Hurricanes is the only other player to do it after notching the game-winner in Game 4 of the 2009 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against the New Jersey Devils, but Jokinen tallied with 0.2 seconds remaining while Kadri's came with 0.1 seconds left on the clock.

NOTEBOOK

The Avalanche, like the other 23 teams in the Stanley Cup Qualifiers, was playing its first-ever game in the month of August. Counting exhibition contests, Colorado has now played at least one game in every calendar month… Colorado outshot St. Louis 16-4 in the first period… The Avs began their third-straight postseason run, the third-longest in franchise history… Ryan Graves tallied his first postseason goal while making his debut in the NHL playoffs… In addition to Graves, Valeri Nichushkin, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Joonas Donskoi, Vladislav Namestnikov, Andre Burakovsky and Kadri all played their first playoff games with the Avs.

QUOTABLE

Nazem Kadri on his last-second goal: "I think it was pretty close. I knew it hit the back of the net before the buzzer went off, but I wasn't quite sure if the buzzer was late or what was going on there. Obviously it was pretty tight."

BIG HIGHLIGHT

IMAGE OF THE GAME

No caption needed.

ROSTER REPORT

Philipp Grubauer started in net for the Avalanche, but head coach Jared Bednar has said that he'll play both goaltenders during the round-robin series. Pavel Francouz is expected to start in Colorado's next game… Tyson Jost skated on the club's fourth line with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Matt Calvert, while Matt Nieto was scratched.

INJURY UPDATE

The Avalanche began the Stanley Cup Qualifiers healthy after having six regulars out of the lineup in the team's last meaningful game on March 11 against the New York Rangers.

UP NEXT

Colorado plays its second game of the round robin on Wednesday against the Dallas Stars at 4:30 p.m. MT. The Avs went 0-2-2 against the Stars during the regular season. All early-round Western Conference matchups will be held at Rogers Place in Edmonton.

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on the start of the game
Forwards
95 Andre Burakovsky - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 91 Nazem Kadri - 13 Valeri Nichushkin
90 Vladislav Namestnikov - 37 J.T. Compher - 72 Joonas Donskoi
17 Tyson Jost - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 11 Matt Calvert
Defensemen
27 Ryan Graves - 8 Cale Makar
49 Samuel Girard - 6 Erik Johnson
16 Nikita Zadorov - 28 Ian Cole
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer (starter)
39 Pavel Francouz (backup)