The most hated Colorado Avalanche player in the eyes of St. Louis Blues fans, Nazem Kadri, achieved his first playoff hat trick as the Avs put the Blues on the ropes with a 6-3 victory and 3-1 series lead in Game 4 heading back to Denver for Game 5 Monday night at the Enterprise Center.
Listen, I know I'm usually objective on this blog, but when your team gets in a hole like this, you'd understand.
Now, if you're wondering how Kadri got so much flak in such a short amount of time, let me explain- Game 3 in St. Louis, early 1st period- Kadri was racing for the puck, heading full speed towards the St. Louis net alongside Blues d-man Calle Rosen. Kadri and Rosen crashed hard into Blues netminder Jordan Binnington, and the former would end up doing more damage, as the resulting injury to Binnington knocked him out for the remainder of this series. And I thought it didn't even look that bad... oh well. Binnington actually chucked his water bottle at Kadri during his post-game interview- or maybe it was a fan or one of Binnington's teammates. Either way, Kadri didn't gain any new fans that night. Oh, and Kadri scored a goal later on in that same game. It may have been in the 2nd period, but Blues fans didn't care AT ALL. The boos were prevalent regardless.
Where was I? Oh, yes. Game 4's recap. Well, St. Louis did score first, something they'd done in most games this series. David Perron (8) needed 5:07 for a 1-0 St. Louis lead, and I swear like every other playoff game this season, it was the only goal of the period. In the 2nd period, Colorado ambushed the Blues with a 4-unanswered goal barrage by Erik Johnson (1) at 2:44, Kadri's first of the night (3) at 4:07, Devon Toews (4) at 4:26, and Kadri's 2nd of the night (4) at 7:37. However, the Blues would respond with 3 unanswered goals to pull within one by the end of the period, courtesy of Perron's 2nd of the night (9) on the power play at 17:02 and Pavel Buchnevich's (1) PPG at 19:27 for a 4-3 Colorado lead. It seemed like St. Louis would complete the comeback. But if you read the final score at the beginning, that was NOT the case.
In the 3rd period, Colorado added a pair of goals to put the game away, tallies from Kadri's hat flyer (5) at 9:38 and Mikko Rantanen (1) with only 2 seconds left to add a final nail in the Blues' coffin. And if you're a Blues fan like myself and you think things can't get any worse? Game 5's in Denver. Although St. Louis won Game 3 there, THEY HAD BINNINGTON IN NET, not his backup in Ville Husso, who they'll have for the remainder of this series, which may only be that game. Fudgesicles.
Team Stats:
Shots: COL 37, STL 20
Hits: COL 27, STL 23
Faceoff Wins: COL 25, STL 31
PIM: COL 8, STL 6 (you know, I'd thought there'd be a lot more given the circumstances in the previous game)
Up Next: Game 5, @ COL, 5/25, 8 PM
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