UPDATED: The verdict is in: Avalanche center Nazem Kadri was suspended for eight games Friday night following his hearing in the afternoon for his illegal hit to the head of St. Louis Blues defenseman Justin Faulk in the third period of Wednesday's game.
The NHL Department of Player Safety announced the decision while the Avalanche were playing the Blues in Game 3 of the best-of-7 Stanley Cup First Round playoff series at Enterprise Center.
Friday's game counts as the first game of the suspension. Kadri will miss the remainder of this series and part of the second round if the Avalanche advance.
Colorado’s Nazem Kadri has been suspended for eight games for an Illegal Check to the Head on St. Louis’ Justin Faulk. https://t.co/5rg2ZPVm5P
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) May 22, 2021
Here are the GAME NOTES.
Kadri, who twice previously was suspended in the playoffs and now six times overall while playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs, took part in the morning skate.
J.T. Compher replaced Kadri on the second line between Joonas Donskoi and Andre Burakovsky.
Blues coach Craig Berube said Faulk and defenseman Robert Bortuzzo wouldn't play Friday. Bortuzzo left Wednesday’s game in the second period after he took a Tyson Jost elbow to the head. Their leading scorer, forward David Perron, remains in COVID-19 protocol.
********** Home games in CAPS, all times MT
Mon., AVALANCHE W 4-1 Wed., AVALANCHE W 6-3 Fri., at St. Louis, 7:30 p.m. Sun., at St. Louis, 3 p.m. *Tue., ST. LOUIS, TBD *Thur.,at St. Louis, TBD *Sat., May 29, ST. LOUIS *If necessary **********
Avalanche coach Jared Bednar would only say before the game that Carl Soderberg, a healthy scratch the first two games of the series, will play and that he’d have to rework the line combinations.
“Soderberg’s going to come into the lineup,… Bednar said. “Why? He’s a veteran guy, plays real well in St. Louis. He’s the next man up in my opinion so he’s coming into the lineup.
“If we’re losing Naz, someone else has to step up and go into his place. Carl will come into the lineup, (we’ll) shuffle some lines around and we’ll get ready to go for tonight.…
Soderberg a natural center, had two assists and killed penalties in 11 games following his trade deadline acquisition from the Chicago Blackhawks.
“I’ll play wherever they need me to play,… he said. “I haven’t played so far, so very excited to get in tonight, so it’ll be a lot of fun.…
Bednar said the Avalanche would have to play better in Game 3 than they did in portions of the first two games. They took a 3-0 lead Wednesday, let up on the gas, and the Blues took advantage of turnovers and a 5-minute power play after Kadri was assessed a match penalty and game misconduct to close to 4-3 in the third period.
Brandon Saad and Nathan MacKinnon, who had a hat trick and an assist, scored empty-net goals for the 6-3 final.
“Our goal is to play a complete 60 minutes,… Bednar said. “I thought we did a lot of real good things in Game 1 and Game 2, but we didn’t play a full 60 to the standard that we’ve set for our team. Our guys are aware of that. They’ve seen some of the things we’ve done well, they’ve seen some of the things we need to improve upon and we’ve got to get more consistent at, and that’s our goal for tonight.
“The challenges we’re going to see in St. Louis is their best game to date and we’re prepared for that. We’re going to have to be a lot better than we were in Game 2.…
Bednar was asked if he expects the Blues to try and set a physical tone against the Avalanche, who already have gotten 15 points (six goals, nine assists) from the top line of Gabriel Landeskog, MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen.
“I think teams’ game plan playing against us is to come out and play physical; that’s been the same all year long and is part of how people think they can beat us,… Bednar said. “I don’t expect them to be any different than what they did in Game 1 or in Game 2 from a physicality standpoint.
“Like I said prior to the series, our team’s prepared for it, we’ve been prepared for it all year and I expect our guys to come out and play hard as well.…
This was the lineup:
FORWARDS Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen Andre Burakovsky -- J.T. Compher -- Joonas Donskoi Brandon Saad -- Tyson Jost-- Valeri Nichushkin Alex Newhook -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Carl Soderberg
DEFENSE Devon Toews -- Cale Makar Ryan Graves -- Samuel Girard Patrik Nemeth -- Conor Timmins
GOALIES Philipp Grubauer Jonas Johansson