Can Blues put Avs out to pasture?
The Blues’ remarkable shutout streak couldn’t go on forever. Few, however, anticipated Boston’s offensive assault on Scottrade Center two nights ago.
St. Louis strives for a return to normalcy, albeit on the road, tonight in Colorado. Oddsmakers at online sports book Bovada.lv give Ken Hitchcock’s club odds of -150 to claim its 47th victory of the campaign. The Avs, dealing with a razor-thin margin for error in more ways than one, have a money line of +130.
On Friday, the Bruins ambushed the previously impenetrable Brian Elliott. Hitchcock pulled his No. 1 goaltender after two periods in the 6-5 loss. Elliott will once again watch from the bench this evening, yielding the assignment to Jake Allen.
While Allen has lost three starts in a row against the Avalanche, the Note can take solace in a fifth consecutive postseason berth. Key cogs such as Robby Fabbri (lower body) and Jay Bouwmeester (upper body) and Carl Gunnarsson (lower body) are also due back in the lineup shortly.
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Colorado is guaranteed nothing of the sort. Patrick Roy’s troops trail Minnesota by five points for the last remaining playoff spot in the Western Conference. In fact, they could be mathematically eliminated from the race with a regulation defeat coupled with a Wild triumph in Winnipeg on Sunday.
The Avalanche have been outscored 15-5 during the four losses over their past five games. St. Louis will enter the Pepsi fully expecting to pile on, and that mentality will at least produce an early flood of tallies.
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