Avalanche on verge of sweep with Game 3 win against Blues

ST. LOUIS --Ryan Graves had a goal and two assists for the Colorado Avalanche in a 5-1 win against the St. Louis Blues in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup First Round at Enterprise Center on Friday.

Alex Newhook scored his first NHL goal, and Philipp Grubauer made 31 saves for the Avalanche, the No. 1 seed in the Honda West Division who have won the first three games in the best-of-7 series.
The Avalanche, who relied on the top line of Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen the first two games with 16 points (six goals, 10 assists), were led by their depth scoring Friday.
"That's a big part of playoffs, having the deep team that we have, any given night we can have goal-scorers, so it can't be the top line every night, and I think we did a good job of chipping in tonight," Avalanche forward Brandon Saad said.
Tyler Bozak scored, and Jordan Binnington made 21 saves for the Blues, the No. 4 seed in the West.
"I liked the game in general," St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. "I thought we competed really hard. I thought we had a ton of looks and offensive zone time. Got to score more.
"... We got a good first period. Our team was ready to go. Our team didn't get down off that first goal. We've been through this before this year throughout the season. We know we can come back. Our guys stayed with it and competed hard for the game."

The Avalanche have a chance to sweep the series here in Game 4 on Sunday (5 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN360, TVAS, BSMW, ALT). Teams that take a 3-0 lead are 192-4 (.979) winning a best-of-7 series.
Colorado forward Nazem Kadri did not play after the NHL Department of Player Safety announced during the first intermission that he received an
eight-game suspension
for an illegal check to the head of St. Louis defenseman Justin Faulk at 6:30 of the third period in Game 2 on Wednesday.
Kadri will miss the rest of this series and the start of the second round should the Avalanche advance.
"I'm a little surprised, to be honest with you," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "I looked through all the head-shot suspensions for the last year, a lot of two-gamers getting handed out for significant hits to the head. We've had some guys put out with hits to the head that are still out with no suspension, so I thought, generally the rule of thumb is playoffs, you get a little less, and he got significantly worse, so it is what it is. We have to deal with it, and we need other guys to step up, and I'm not going to worry about the past."
Graves gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 1:57 of the second period after he exited the penalty box and beat Binnington to a loose puck, shooting it off the goalie's paddle and into an empty net.
"It's a big goal for us and I'm just happy that I could be able to finish it and give us an early lead to kind of get us rolling," Graves said. "... I'm happy to be able to chip in when I can."
Newhook made it 2-0 at 12:37 following a rebound of a Graves shot. The rookie forward played six regular-season games and had three assists.
"From what I remember, [Graves] threw it off the pad, it popped out to me in the slot and I saw a lot of net and was hoping I could put it in, and it was a big point in the game," Newhook said. "So I was happy to put that home and give us a two-goal lead there."
Tyson Jost increased it to 3-0 at 16:08 with a shot from the right side of the net. The Blues unsuccessfully challenged for goalie interference.

Bozak's shorthanded goal at 16:17, a shot from the slot off a pass from Ryan O'Reilly, cut the Avalanche lead to 3-1.
"[O'Reilly] did a great job getting in there," Bozak said. "Good rim by [Colton] Parayko. Just tried to get open for him. He made a great play like he always does and just tried to find a spot to shoot it. It was nice to get one there and create a little confidence, create a little boost. Just, unfortunately, we couldn't sustain it and get another one."
Saad made it 4-1 at 13:42 of the third period off Andre Burakovsky's backhand feed into the crease.
J.T. Compher scored a shorthanded, empty-net goal at 19:06 for the 5-1 final.
NOTES: Avalanche forward Carl Soderberg, who replaced Kadri, had an assist in 8:59 of ice time after being a healthy scratch the first two games. ... The Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques are 4-0 in series in which they go up 3-0. ... Defensemen Faulk (upper body) and Robert Bortuzzo (upper body) did not play, Faulk as a result of the Kadri hit and Bortuzzo, who missed half the game Wednesday, from a hit by Jost. ... Blues defensemen Steven Santini and Mitch Reinke each made his Stanley Cup Playoff debut. Santini had three shots and eight hits in 16:20, and Reinke had two shots in 9:19. … The Blues outhit the Avalanche 46-20, with forward Sammy Blais getting 10.