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The Avalanche seized a commanding 3-0 advantage
in the best-of-seven West Division first-round playoff series.
Game 4 will be Sunday afternoon.
Alex Newhook, Tyson Jost, Brandon Saad and J.T. Compher also
scored for the Avalanche, and goaltender Philipp Grubauer made
31 saves.
Tyler Bozak scored for the Blues, and Jordan Binnington stopped
21 shots.
The Blues played without defensemen Justin Faulk and Robert
Bortuzzo, who sustained head injuries in Game 2. With Vince Dunn
(upper-body injury) and Jake Walman (COVID-19 protocol) still
sidelined, the Blues had to plug AHL defensemen Steven Santini
and Mitch Reinke into the lineup.
The Avalanche were missing center Nazem Kadri, who started his
eight-game NHL suspension for his head-high, blind-side hit on
Faulk on Wednesday.
After both teams just missed on tremendous scoring chances
during a scoreless first period, Graves put the Avalanche up 1-0
less than two minutes into the second period.
With the puck rolling into the Blues zone, Graves jumped out of
the penalty box and raced after it. Binnington came out of his
net hoping to claim it, but Graves got there first to score.
After Colorado's Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar hit posts with
shots, Newhook put the Avalanche up 2-0. He scored his first NHL
goal -- regular season or playoff -- with a rebound conversion
from the right dot with 7:23 left in the middle period.
Jost made it 3-0 with 3:52 left in the second period by banking
home his own rebound off a two-on-one rush.
The Blues were penalized for losing their challenge for
goaltender interference on that play, but Bozak cut the deficit
to 3-1 with a short-handed goal nine seconds later.
Saad scored off the rush to make it 4-1 at 13:42 of the third
period, and Compher's empty-net goal made it 5-1 at 19:06.
--Field Level Media
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