It was New Year’s Eve the last time these two teams met and the festivities began early even before the ball dropped as the Colorado Avalanche demolished the St. Louis Blues that evening in a 6-1 final. Valeri Nichushkin scored one of Colorado’s three hat tricks in the 2025-26 season to ring in the new year.
Now in the home stretch of the regular season these two teams meet for a home-and-home to conclude their season series against each other. First the Avalanche are hosts and then the series shifts
to St. Louis on Tuesday night. Both teams are seemingly going in different directions, the Avalanche are two points away from clinching the Central Division and the Western Conference number one seed. The Blues are making one last push while refusing to play out the string and get to their summer vacations. Can Colorado grab four points over St. Louis in the process?
Colorado Avalanche (50-15-10)
The Opponent: St. Louis Blues (32-31-12)
Time: 7:30 p.m. MT
Watch: ESPN
Listen: Altitude Sports Radio, 92.5 FM
Colorado Avalanche
Injuries have been the story for Colorado since the Olympic break as there was a major wave of players hitting the infirmary and then four forwards returned over the recently concluded road trip. Now just Nic Roy is on the shelf up front but the biggest concern by far is the health of Cale Makar who left the game against Calgary on March 30th with an upper-body injury. It has been deemed “not serious” but something that will keep him out of action for a little while as he’s not expected to play in this contest.
The other storyline for the burgundy and blue is their clinching scenario after a big win in Dallas just a night ago. The magic number is down to two and can be achieved with a simple win in this contest. Securing the President’s Trophy is on the horizon before any resting discussion can begin. Taking care of business in this home-and-home would go a long way to achieving that goal.
Projected Lineup
Artturi Lehkonen — Nathan MacKinnon — Martin Necas
Gabriel Landeskog — Brock Nelson — Valeri Nichushkin
Ross Colton — Nazem Kadri — Logan O’Connor
Parker Kelly — Jack Drury — Joel Kiviranta
Devon Toews — Sam Malinski
Brett Kulak — Josh Manson
Nick Blankenburg — Brent Burns
St. Louis Blues
It looked like an early lost season for the blue note but they have made it interesting since the Olympic break, losing only four times in the month of March and just twice in regulation. Still, it’s an uphill battle into a playoff spot, though not impossible, for St. Louis but this game doesn’t look as easy on paper as it would have just a month ago.
Top center Robert Thomas escaped the trade deadline and still leads the Blues in points with 53. Backup goaltender Joel Hofer has been a revelation lately as he picked up his 20th win on the season in their big win against Anaheim on Friday night and has been a major catalyst for St. Louis getting back into the playoff picture.
Projected Lineup
Dylan Holloway — Robert Thomas — Jimmy Snuggerud
Jake Neighbours — Pavel Buchnevich — Jordan Kyrou
Otto Stenberg — Dalibor Dvorsky — Jonatan Berggren
Alexey Toropchenko — Jack Finley — Pius Suter
Philip Broberg — Logan Mailloux
Theo Lindstein — Colton Parayko
Cam Fowler — Justin Holl
Goaltenders
Both teams are employing some sort of ride the hot hand tandem at present moment. Colorado seems to view Scott Wedgewood as their starter without confirming it but both he and Mackenzie Blackwood should see the net in this little mini-series with the Blues. Considering Wedgewood took the crease yesterday against Dallas it should be Blackwood’s turn in net tonight.
For the Blues, they quietly have found the aforementioned recent success with their backup in Joel Hofer and he could see the net in both games against the Avalanche if they want to ride the upward momentum of their playoff push.
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