ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Blues dropped a pivotal Game 3 in their second round series against the Colorado Avalanche and lost their starting goaltender to injury on Saturday night at Enterprise Center.
The Avalanche beat the Blues 5-2 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
The Blues got on the board first thanks to a blistering 98-mile-per-hour slap shot from defenseman Colton Parayko to go up 1-0.
Things shifted soon after, though.
Nearly halfway through the first period, Avalanche forward Nazem Kadri and Blues defenseman Calle Rosen came together and ended up colliding with Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington. Binnington stayed down on the ice for a bit, before getting up and being looked at by Blues trainer Ray Barile. The Blues ended up removing Binnington from the game. He did not return to the bench. Ville Husso, who came into the playoffs as the Blues' starter, entered in net.
After the game, Blues head coach Craig Berube said Binnington was still being evaluated with a lower-body injury.
Update: Blues head coach Craig Berube announced on Sunday that Binnington would be out for at least the remainder of the second round.
Shortly after Husso replaced Binnington, the Avalanche tied the game on a goal from Logan O'Connor.
The Avalanche then scored the first two goals of the second period, to take a 3-1.
First, Kadri beat Husso, much to the Enterprise Center crowd's disgust. Then, about four minutes later, Arturri Lehkonen scored to put the Avalanche up by two goals.
The Blues got one back at the end of the third, with captain Ryan O'Reilly netting his seventh goal of the playoffs.
The Blues were shut out in the third period, though, and Colorado netted two late goals to win 5-2. Gabriel Landeskog scored as Husso was attempting to get back to the net after trying to get off for an extra attacker, and Lehkonen added his second of the game to cap it off, this time on an empty-netter.
The Blues and Avalanche will be back in action for Game 4 on Monday night at 8:30 at the Enterprise Center.
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