St Louis Blues

The St. Louis Blues announced goaltender Jordan Binnington will miss the remainder of the team's Stanley Cup playoff series with the Colorado Avalanche because of a lower-body injury.

Binnington was forced to exit the team's 5-2 Game 3 loss Saturday. The Athletic's Jeremy Rutherford reported the Blues' initial fear was that he suffered a potential knee sprain.

Binnington was limited to just 6:45 on the ice Saturday. Avs forward Nazem Kadri collided into the netminder in the first period.

Binnington appeared to take exception, with Kadri claiming in a post-match interview a water bottle was thrown in his direction:

Blues coach Craig Berube made a cryptic comment about the sequence following his team's defeat.

"Look at Kadri’s reputation," he told reporters. "That’s all I’ve got to say."

Avs coach Jared Bednar came to his player's defense and thought Binnington's injury was an "unfortunate" consequence of a normal hockey play.

What matters for St. Louis right now is that Ville Husso will be deputized as the starting goaltender against Colorado.

The 27-year-old had a .919 save percentage and a 2.56 goals-against average during the regular season. His save percentage has dipped to .891 in the postseason as he has surrendered 13 goals on 119 shots. 

With the Blues staring at a 2-1 series deficit, losing Binnington could be a fatal blow to their hopes of advancing.

The Colorado Avalanche defeated the St. Louis Blues 5-2 on Saturday in Game 3 of their second-round Stanley Cup Playoffs matchup to take a 2-1 series lead, but not without a little controversy.

Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington exited the game early in the first period after both Avalanche forward Nazem Kadri and Blues defenseman Calle Rosen crashed into him while chasing a rebounded shot.

Ville Huuso replaced Binnington for the remainder of the game. 

While some fans were quick to blame Kadri for the collision, comparing him to the likes of Tom Wilson and former NHLer Sean Avery, others viewed him as the hero of Game 3 after scoring a goal in the second period and playing with a competitive edge.

Kadri has been viewed by a number of NHL fans in the past for being dirty, so it's not necessarily surprising that many laid into him during and after Saturday's game. 

The 31-year-old was suspended eight games in June 2021 for an illegal check to the head on Blues defenseman Justin Faulk in their first-round playoff series. Including that suspension, he has been suspended a total of 16 playoff games and 11 regular-season games. 

As for Binnington, his status moving forward is unclear. The 28-year-old played a significant role in St. Louis' 2019 Stanley Cup championship and will need him healthy to move further in the playoffs. 

Binnington had also been playing well entering Saturday's game, posting a .948 save percentage and a 4-1 record in five playoff games. If he is unavailable, Huuso will likely get the start in Game 4 at Enterprise Center on Monday. 

David Perron scored twice, including the game-winning goal, to help lead the St. Louis Blues to a 4-1 victory over the top-seeded Colorado Avalanche in Game 2 of their second-round playoff series Thursday night.

Perron now leads the Blues with seven goals in eight appearances so far in the 2022 NHL playoffs. His 11 postseason points are already the second-most in his career, trailing only the 16 he put up during St. Louis' run to the 2019 Stanley Cup title.

The Blues and Avs are leveled at one win apiece as the series shifts to the Enterprise Center in St. Louis for the next two contests.

"It's playoffs. Big roller coaster," Perron told reporters. "We didn't feel good about ourselves last game. Tonight we had a lot more guys [playing well]."

Here's a look at more reaction to the 33-year-old winger's standout performance:

Jordan Kyrou and Brandon Saad also found the net for St. Louis. Gabriel Landeskog tallied the only goal for Colorado, which suffered its first loss of the playoffs after it swept the Nashville Predators in the first round.

Goalie Jordan Binnington stopped 30 of the 31 shots he faced to pick up the win for the Blues.

Game 3 is scheduled for Saturday night at 8 p.m. ET on TNT.

Frederik Andersen jumped on to the scene as a young goalie in the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Anaheim Ducks had lost trust in their No. 1 goalie, Jonas Hiller, and instead turned to their rookie netminder. 

Fast-forward to 2022, with Andersen now with the Carolina Hurricanes but injured to begin the playoffs, many wondered whether this would be the moment for another rising rookie, 22-year-old Pyotr Kochetkov. Instead, the net went to veteran goalie Antti Raanta, and he delivered in his first-ever playoff start, backstopping Carolina to a 4-1 win over the Boston Bruins in Game 1 of their first-round series. 

The Carolina goaltending situation was one of the biggest storylines to come from the first night of the2022 NHL playoffs. The Toronto Maple Leafs' decisive win over the Tampa Bay Lightning was another. 

Here are five takeaways from the first night of postseason action. 

New Year, New Narratives

It's been nearly 20 years since the Maple Leafs have won a playoff round, but a 5-0 thrashing of the reigning Stanley Cup champs twice over has the Leafs faithful eager for more. If they advance past the first round, you will likely be able to point to the five-minute power play they killed off Monday as a catalyst. 

Early on, Kyle Clifford received a five-minute major and a game misconduct penalty for boarding Ross Colton, but Toronto actually generated more scoring chances than it surrendered during seven shorthanded minutes in the first period. David Kampf scored a shorthanded goal in the second period. The vaunted Tampa Bay power play went 0-for-5. 

Matthews and Marner faced significant criticism last year when the Maple Leafs were eliminated in seven games by the Montreal Canadiens. Two key team leaders and two major components to the lineup, Matthews scored only a single goal and assisted on five, while Marner scored none, which was the same amount he scored in the 2019-20 postseason. 

It's too early to see if the curse has been lifted, but there is such immense pressure on the Maple Leafs to get out of the first round, and yet Toronto thrived under it. 

Borderline Violence

Prior to the series starting, Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe gave us what could be the quote of the postseason:

"I expect it to be a very physical, borderline violent series in a lot of ways," he told reporters in Toronto. "And our guys will be ready for that."

A total of 122 penalty minutes were doled out in Game 1, so clearly the Leafs were, in fact, ready. A line brawl even broke out midway through the third period involving two longtime NHL tough guys in Corey Perry and Wayne Simmonds. 

The ESPN2 cameras cut away for a commercial during the post-whistle scrum, but there were skirmishes in other games as well. A suspension could also be coming from the department of player safety for Clifford's hit from behind on Colton. It would be unfortunate for Toronto, who relies on Clifford, a two-time Stanley Cup champion, to bring energy on the fourth line, but the Leafs proved they could win without him on Monday. 

This is the time of year when the levels of intensity and physicality go up a few notches. This is when you hear players say they need to "play between the whistles." The key is making sure the emotions don't boil over to the point that it becomes detrimental. 

Speaking of which… 

Un-Gentlemanly Conduct

The Minnesota Wild clinched home-ice advantage against their Central Division rivals St. Louis, but it didn't help much. David Perron scored a hat trick for the Blues in a 4-0 win, and Ville Husso became the first St. Louis goalie to record a shutout in his playoff debut, but all of that was overshadowed by a late penalty for a crosscheck by Jared Spurgeon. 

With 1:34 left in the game, Spurgeon was tied up with Pavel Buchnevich. Frustrated by his inability to connect on the puck with Buchnevich upending him, he crosschecked the back of the Blues forward's legs, slamming his stick down with considerable force. It didn't really matter that the Wild was left shorthanded for the rest of the game—it was lost well before the penalty—but it was a dangerous play that is going to get reviewed by the department of player safety and could land him a suspension. 

It was also uncharacteristic and unbecoming of a captain. Spurgeon was a Lady Byng finalist last season and is a perennial candidate for the sportsmanship award given to the most "gentlemanly" player combined with a high standard of playing ability.

A captain goes down with the ship. He doesn't put himself in a position to sit out games. 

The Blues are 13-1-1 in their last 15 games against the Wild. Ouch. 

Storm Surged

The Bruins have a relentless forecheck. Carolina did its best to stop it, but if you look at the underlying numbers, you'll see this was a pretty evenly matched game. Shot attempts at 5-on-5 were 56-48 in favor of Boston, scoring chances were 24-23 and high-danger chances were 11-11. But the power play woes resurfaced for the Bruins. Despite the fact that Boston generated chances on the first two power plays, the third didn't even yield a single shot attempt. 

There was also some consternation in the Bruins net. Linus Ullmark made the start for Boston and at one point gave up a goal off his mask. Do the Bruins go with rookie goalie Jeremy Swayman in Game 2? Ullmark started because Swayman struggled down the stretch, going 4-6-0 with an .877 save percentage in the final 10 games. 

It's possible he hit a wall and these last few days off have been beneficial for him. But there is no doubt a tandem that once looked strong is suddenly in doubt.

But the story today is Raanta. 

"For me, it was obviously the first start in the playoffs in the NHL," Raanta said in his postgame press conference. "I was just trying to focus on the things that have (allowed me) to be successful. It was working nicely. But it's only one game, one win, and now it's just regrouping and getting ready for Wednesday."

One-Man Rush

Connor McDavid did very Connor McDavid-like things against the Los Angeles Kings. You can call it an odd-man rush because technically one is an odd number, but it was a 1-on-5 with McDavid as the lone man in an orange and blue jersey in the offensive zone. 

With the Kings up 2-0 in the final minute of the first period, McDavid picked up the puck in the defensive zone and picked up some serious speed. He went 1-on-everyone and skated coast-to-coast, going down the boards and cutting through two defenders while another two failed to pick up his movement and another watched helplessly as he sniped one past Jonathan Quick from the edge of the right circle. 

It was an absurd goal scored by one of the most elite players in the world. He just completely walked the Kings' entire five-man unit. 

But when Leon Draisaitl scored around the 10-minute mark of the second period to tie the game at 3-3, it underscored the fact that McDavid and Draisaitl can put a team on their backs and win on their own. The Oilers don't have to be fantastic, but they don't completely roll over, this team will stay in games. 

However, staying in games isn't good enough for McDavid, who is desperate for a championship. And that desperation may be needed after the Kings grabbed a late goal to take a 1-0 series lead.

Phillip Danault scored after an incredible sequence that saw Mike Smith turn the puck over off the back of the boards, then dive back to the crease to make a save before Danualt tipped Sean Durzi's point shot into the net.

"I was just trying to make something happen," Smith told reporters in his postgame press conference. "Obviously, just trying to do too much there. In a tight game like that, you can't afford to make mistakes like that. It ended up costing us the game." 

Smith has lost his last 10 playoff games, including all six he has played for the Oilers. 

With Vladimir Tarasenko reportedly looking to leave the St. Louis Blues, the three-time All-Star could end up as a member of the Seattle Kraken. 

Per Frank Seravelli of DailyFaceoff.com, the Blues did not protect Tarasenko from the expansion draft that will take place July 21.  

Tarasenko's future with the Blues has been one of the most-discussed topics of the NHL offseason. 

The Athletic's Jeremy Rutherford reported earlier this month that Tarasenko formally requested a trade because of his unhappiness with how the team handled two separate shoulder surgeries he had in 2018 and 2019. 

In a follow-up report this week, Rutherford noted that Tarasenko gave the Blues a list of 10 teams he wants to play for. 

That group includes the New York Rangers, New York Islanders, Vegas Golden Knights, Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals and Florida Panthers. 

Rutherford added Tarasenko trade talks are "complicated" right now because interested teams will want to see his medical records and because of his contract situation. 

The 29-year-old is owed $15 million with cap hits of $7.5 million in each of the next two seasons. 

According to Rutherford, the Lightning appear to be Tarasenko's preferred landing spot. Cap Friendly estimates the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions are $3.66 million over the cap right now. 

Leaving Tarasenko open to the expansion draft could solve St. Louis' problem of finding a landing spot for him, though the Blues wouldn't receive any compensation in return.

The Kraken would then have to determine if they want to keep Tarasenko—assuming he would even want to play for an expansion franchise—or try to flip him and acquire more assets that would benefit them long-term. 

Tarasenko has to prove he can still be a valuable contributor in the NHL. The former first-round pick has only appeared in 34 games over the past two seasons combined. He has scored 24 points and is minus-9 during that span.     

St. Louis Blues' superstar winger Vladimir Tarasenko has requested a trade after losing trust in the organization, according to The Athletic's Jeremy Rutherford. 

Issues with the team reportedly arose from two shoulder surgeries performed by team physicians that still left the 29-year-old Russian ailing. A third surgery in 2020 performed by a doctor not affiliated with the Blues discovered ligament damage from Tarasenko's initial injury in 2018 wasn't corrected in either of the previous two operations. 

Rutherford noted Tarasenko notified the team of discomfort in his shoulder before rejoining the club in Edmonton during the playoffs only for the team to delay further testing. He would play just four games before returning to St. Louis for another evaluation. 

The 2019 Stanley Cup champion has played just 110 games since the end of the 2017-18 season. 

According to Rutherford, this mistrust hasn't gone unnoticed and general manager Doug Armstrong has been "quietly shopping" his star for "a while": 

There was a lot of criticism of Tarasenko’s performance last season—even within the organization—and sources say the lack of trust became a bigger issue at that point because the Blues weren’t taking ownership for the mishandling of the first two surgeries.

Meanwhile, there was lingering disappointment from Tarasenko after the Blues named Ryan O’Reilly as the 23rd captain in team history the previous summer. That story, which originated in Russian media, died because Tarasenko was unavailable for comment to local media until he returned to the lineup three months later, when it became a moot topic.

After eight seasons in St. Louis, it was all enough to convince Tarasenko he needed to leave town. The three-time All-Star has two years remaining on an eight-year, $60 million contract and will carry a cap hit of $7.5 million in both 2021-22 and 2022-23 before becoming an unrestricted free agent. 

Between his salary and a desire to play for a contender, Rutherford believes likely destinations for Tarasenko include the New York Islanders, New York Rangers and Edmonton Oilers.

There's no timeline for a potential deal, however the upcoming Seattle Kraken expansion draft, NHL entry draft and start of free agency could help move things along rather quickly. 

The St. Louis Blues were among the playoff teams retested for COVID-19 on Wednesday after the league received potential false positive tests on Tuesday, per ESPN's Greg Wyshynski.

Blues president of hockey operations and general manager Doug Armstrong released the following statement on the situation:

We have discovered discrepancies in Covid test results relating to multiple players. We have been in touch with and are working with the league to address these discrepancies with additional testing and expect to have further information later this afternoon. The league will provide a further update when we have more information.

The Blues were one of two playoff teams impacted by the potential false positives, alongside the Vegas Golden Knights. The NHL released a statement of its own later on Wednesday:

Per the ESPN report, the Blues had three players on the COVID-related absences list Tuesday: Forwards David Perron and Nathan Walker and defenseman Jake Walman.

As Wyshynski noted, "Walman was a notable absence because the Blues said he was the rare 'breakthrough case' of COVID after vaccination. He was placed on the list May 12 after the team asked for additional testing."

The team did not make head coach Craig Berube or any players available for Zoom interviews after the team's morning skate on Wednesday, per Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

And goalie Jordan Binnington, defenseman Marco Scandella and forwards Vladimir Tarasenko and Jaden Schwartz did not participate in Tuesday's practice or Wednesday's morning skate. 

The Blues trail the Colorado Avalanche 1-0 in their first-round playoff matchup after losing 4-1 on Monday. That series will resume Wednesday night at 10:30 p.m. ET on CNBC. 

The St. Louis Blues will be in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the ninth time in 10 seasons.

The 2018-19 champions booked a place in the postseason Friday by virtue of an overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights and the Colorado Avalanche's 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings. They are the 14th team to claim one of the 16 bids.

Qualified Playoff Teams

Central

• Carolina Hurricanes (77 points)
• Florida Panthers (75 points)
• Tampa Bay Lightning (73 points)

East

• Washington Capitals (71 points)
• Pittsburgh Penguins (71 points)
• Boston Bruins (68 points)
• New York Islanders (67 points)

North

• Toronto Maple Leafs (72 points)
• Edmonton Oilers (64 points)
• Winnipeg Jets (59 points)

West

• Vegas Golden Knights (74 points)
• Colorado Avalanche (72 points)
• Minnesota Wild (70 points)
• St. Louis Blues (55 points)

The Blues' title triumph two years ago wasn't a fluke, but the stars aligned for the franchise after it went from firing Mike Yeo midseason to lifting the Stanley Cup. St. Louis' luck came back around in 2020 as it failed to advance past the Vancouver Canucks in the first round.

Based on where they sit in the standings, the Blues would appear destined for another early exit.

St. Louis' point total is deceptive though, since the team had to play 10 games against the Avalanche and nine against the Golden Knights, two of the NHL's strongest squads. The Minnesota Wild have been no pushovers, either.

To the extent regular-season momentum matters in the playoffs, the Blues might be peaking at the right time. On April 5, they suffered their 12th defeat in 14 games. Since then, they have reeled off eight victories in 14 games.

In order to buck the odds and make a deep run, St. Louis will need David Perron (50 points) and Ryan O'Reilly (50 points) to continue shouldering the bulk of the offensive burden.