Blues at Avalanche preview

BLUES (44-31-6) at AVALANCHE (42-30-9)
9 p.m. ET, NHLN (JIP), ALT, FS-MW, NHL.TV

The Blues, who had lost four straight games (0-3-1) before defeating the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1 on Friday, lead the Avalanche by one point for the second wild card and will qualify for the playoffs with one point; St. Louis has the tiebreaker advantage because it won the season series.
The Avalanche, 1-4-1 in their past six games after going 6-2-0 in their previous eight, have to win in regulation to finish ahead of the Blues. Coach Jared Bednar said Saturday he would pull his goalie for a sixth skater if the game were tied late in the third period.

Players to watch

Blues forward Patrik Berglund has nine points (eight goals, one assist) in his past 10 games, including a hat trick in the win at Chicago on Friday.
Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon has three assists in his past seven games after having 31 points (14 goals, 17 assists) in his previous 16 games.

They said it

"Your whole life when you play the game and you're on the outdoor rinks, when you're playing road hockey … these are the games that you dream of. So as a player you really have to embrace that and get excited." -- Blues coach Mike Yeo
"I'm really proud to get to this spot. A lot of blood, sweat and tears have gone into this. This is a great opportunity for our team. We have a chance to win a game and get into the playoffs. It should be fun." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar

Blues projected lineup

Jaden Schwartz -- Brayden Schenn -- Vladimir Tarasenko
Patrik Berglund -- Kyle Brodziak -- Alexander Steen
Dmitrij Jaskin -- Vladimir Sobotka -- Tage Thompson
Nikita Soshnikov -- Oskar Sundqvist -- Chris Thorburn
Joel Edmundson -- Alex Pietrangelo
Vince Dunn -- Colton Parayko
Chris Butler -- Robert Bortuzzo
Jake Allen
Carter Hutton
Scratched: Ville Husso, Ivan Barbashev, Mitch Reinke, Jordan Schmaltz, Nolan Stevens
Injured: Scottie Upshall (lacerated kidney)

Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Tyson Jost -- Alex Kerfoot -- Sven Andrighetto
Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Blake Comeau
Colin Wilson -- J.T. Compher -- Gabriel Bourque
Nikita Zadorov -- Tyson Barrie
Patrik Nemeth -- Samuel Girard
Mark Barberio -- Mark Alt
Jonathan Bernier
Andrew Hammond
Scratched: Vladislav Kamenev, Anton Lindholm, Duncan Siemens, Dominic Toninato, David Warsofsky, Nail Yakupov
Injured: Erik Johnson (knee), Semyon Varlamov (knee)

Status report

The Blues did not hold a morning skate. … Thorburn will play in his 800th NHL game. … Soderberg will play in his 400th game in the League.

Stat pack

Allen is 0-3-1 with a 3.84 goals-against average and .869 save percentage in his past four starts. … Bernier is 0-2-1 with a 3.39 goals-against average and .902 save percentage in his past three starts.