Colorado leads best-of-7 series, 2-0
The St. Louis Blues might be without defensemen Robert Bortuzzo and Justin Faulk as the team looks to climb back into their first-round matchup with the Colorado Avalanche on Friday in Game 3 (8:30 p.m. CT, BSMW, CNBC, 101 ESPN).
Bortuzzo took a high elbow from Avalanche forward Tyson Jost in the second period Wednesday. Bortuzzo did not return to the game for the third.
“It’s a greasy elbow there by Jostie,” Brayden Schenn said after the game. “I understand he’s going into battle, but you’ve got to know how to control your elbows and not get it up into the d-man’s face… It’s a pretty gross elbow and it’s tough to lose a guy like ‘Bobbo.'”
Faulk was lost in the third period after taking a bad hit from Colorado’s Nazem Kadri, who was assessed a match penalty for a hit to the head and was awaiting a hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety on Thursday.
“That’s a very dangerous hit,” Blues captain Ryan O’Reilly said after Game 2. “He’s a repeat offender. That’s completely uncalled for and it’s awful to see.”
Blues Head Coach Craig Berube didn’t provide an update on either Bortuzzo or Faulk after the game but said Vince Dunn (upper-body injury) could be a possibility for Game 3. Dunn hasn’t played since April 24 and has missed 13 consecutive games.
Berube also said Jake Walman, who remains in the League’s COVID-19 protocol, would not be available.
Another option for the Blues on defense is Steven Santini, who played in three games during the regular season. Santini recorded his first point as a Blue – an assist – on May 13 against the Wild.
THEY SAID IT
“When we do things the right way and dictate and get on these guys, you can see we can generate and we make it difficult for them. It’s definitely something that we have to build off of and we’re going home and we’re going to get back in the series.” – Ryan O’Reilly after Game 2
“We’ve got to go home and win a game. That’s the way we’re looking at it.” – Craig Berube after falling behind in the series 2-0
“We’ve been dealing with injuries all year. Next-man-up mentality. It’s the playoffs. Anything can happen. We feel the last two periods (of Game 2), we kind of started to build our game a little bit and we like playing in front of our fans and home ice in the playoffs and we can’t wait to get back to Enterprise and try to make this a series.” – Brayden Schenn on mounting injuries as series shifts to St. Louis
BLUE NOTES
Torey Krug recorded two assists in Game 2 to record his 10th career multi-assist game in the postseason… Jordan Binnington tied Curtis Joseph for third-most in playoff starts by a Blues goaltender with his 33rd start on Wednesday… Jaden Schwartz played in his 86th career postseason game in Game 2, passing Chris Pronger for fifth all-time in Blues history… Teams that have trailed 2-0 in a best-of-7 series have come back to win 51 times… Friday will be the first playoff game at Enterprise Center since Game 6 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final vs. Boston. The Blues are expected to have 9,000 fans in attendance, which will be the largest crowd of the season.
