The Avalanche will attempt to finish off the St. Louis Blues on Sunday, taking a 3-0 lead into Game 4 of the best-of-7 Stanley Cup First Round at Enterprise Center.
Teams with a 3-0 lead in a best-of-7 have won 192 of 196 playoff series.
"It's important (to close out the series)," coach Jared Bednar said Friday after the Avalanche’s 5-1 win. "Whenever we have a chance to eliminate a team, it's always the hardest game to win. I think that our guys understand that.
Here's the NHL.com GAME 3 RECAP.
"It's playoffs, and you're trying to win, you're trying to get the rest, trying to get time to prepare. A lot of things come into it, so we'll come out and give it a shot."
The Avalanche used their depth to win Friday. Ryan Graves, Tyson Jost, Alex Newhook (his first NHL goal) and Brandon Saad scored before J.T. Compher found the back of an empty net.
++++++++++ Home games in CAPS, all times MT
Mon., AVALANCHE W 4-1 Wed., AVALANCHE W 6-3 Fri., Avalanche W 5-1 Sun., at St. Louis, 3 p.m. Tue., ST. LOUIS, TBD *Thur., at St. Louis, TBD *Sat., May 29, ST. LOUIS *If necessary
++++++++++
“I think we have some areas where we can improve on from the last game, but the goal is to win and to try and finish this off tomorrow night and move on if we can,… Compher said Saturday. He replaced the suspended Nazem Kadri on the second line, centering Joonas Donskoi and Andre Burakovsky.
Kadri will serve the second game of his eight-game suspension, which was announced during the first intermission Friday by the NHL Department of Player Safety for his illegal check to the head of Blues defenseman Justin Faulk in the third period 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," Bednar said of the suspension’s length. "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."
Goalie Philipp Grubauer, who made 31 saves Friday, has a 1.67 goals-against average and .944 save percentage in the series.
“He’s been outstanding,… Jost said. “When we’ve needed a big save, Grubi’s always been there. We know he’s that rock back there that we need. He’s been awesome and we rely on him a lot. He’s stepped up to the challenge for sure.…
Jost addressed his elbow against Robert Bortuzzo in Game 2 that knocked the Blues defenseman out of the game. He also didn’t play Friday.
“I didn’t even know that I got him there,… Jost said. “It was kind of an instant play, I was going in there and he was a little bit low and it was a hockey play. It was not intentional. I wasn’t going after him with an elbow at all. That’s not me, that’s not the type of player I am. I think you guys know that.
“Four years I’ve been in the league I don’t think I’ve ever had a dirty hit. It’s hockey, it’s playoff hockey and stuff happens. I just want to focus on my game and keep playing and help the team win.…
The projected lineup:
FORWARDS Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen Andre Burakovsky -- J.T. Compher -- Joonas Donskoi Brandon Saad -- Tyson Jost -- Valeri Nichushkin Carl Soderberg -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Alex Newhook
DEFENSE Devon Toews -- Cale Makar Ryan Graves -- Samuel Girard Patrik Nemeth -- Conor Timmins
GOALIES Philipp Grubauer Jonas Johansson