"Got to get ready to play our best game tomorrow against St. Louis, and it's a team facing an elimination," coach Jared Bednar said Tuesday. "We know they're going to come with their best game, and we have to bring ours as well."
The Avalanche lead the best-of-7 series 3-1 heading into Game 5 here Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; TNT, CBC, SN, TVAS). They are 3-1 at home in the postseason, the loss coming to the Blues in Game 2.
A win would end a string of three straight second-round series losses for Colorado.
Last season, the Avalanche had a 2-0 lead against the Vegas Golden Knights only to lose the next four games. In 2020, they trailed the Dallas Stars 3-1 and rallied to force Game 7 before losing in overtime. They also lost Game 7 in 2019 against the San Jose Sharks.
Though the conference final against either the Calgary Flames or Edmonton Oilers is in sight, they say they are not looking ahead.
"You never want to give a team any chance, right?" defenseman Bowen Byram said. "We definitely have the advantage having this game on home ice, so we want to take advantage of that. We're just focused on the next shift, next period. We're not looking ahead to the score or winning the series, whatever it might be. Our focus is just right now preparing to play."
The Blues are focused on getting their game back after losing Games 3 and 4 at home.
St. Louis lost goalie Jordan Binnington to a lower-body injury for the rest of the series in Game 3. Ville Husso, who started the postseason as the Blues' No. 1 goalie only to be supplanted by Binnington during the six-game first-round win against the Minnesota Wild, took over for him in Game 3 and allowed four goals on 23 shots in the 5-2 loss. Husso allowed five goals on 36 shots during a 6-3 loss in Game 4 on Monday.
Despite the two straight losses, Blues coach Craig Berube said his team's Game 2 victory is cause for optimism that it can win at Colorado on Wednesday.
"We've got to play better. We can," Berube said Monday. "We went in there and won Game 2, so we're capable of doing it. The team's capable of doing it, and it's just a matter of going out and executing and doing it.
"We've got to skate. We didn't skate Monday]. We weren't heavy enough, we didn't win enough 50-50 battles. That's got to be a must. You've got to skate and you've got to win 50-50 battles, and we need a lot more guys doing it. A lot more."
***[RELATED: [Complete Avalanche vs. Blues series coverage]*
Colorado is in control despite not getting a goal in the series from forward Nathan MacKinnon, who was second on the Avalanche with 32 goals this season, or defenseman Cale Makar, who was tied for fourth with Nazem Kadri (28). Forward Mikko Rantanen, who led the Avalanche with 36 goals this season, has one in the series, into an empty net in Game 4.
Still, Bednar said he knows the Blues will be tough to finish off.
"They're going to come and they're going to check us hard, and they'll be hungry offensively," he said. "They have to win the hockey game, so we can expect their best game. It's our home game. We're sitting in a really good spot right where we need to be, and like I said, now we've got to play our best performance of the series."
