Mile High Sticking
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Colorado Avalanche Must Win Division Game in St. Louis

By Nadia Archuleta

ST. LOUIS, MO - JANUARY 25: Colorado Avalanche's Alexander Kerfoot, left, skates with the puck while under pressure from St. Louis Blues' Vladimir Tarasenko during the third period of an NHL hockey game. The St. Louis Blues defeated the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 on January 25, 2017, at Scottrade Center in St. Louis, MO. (Photo by Tim Spyers/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
ST. LOUIS, MO - JANUARY 25: Colorado Avalanche's Alexander Kerfoot, left, skates with the puck while under pressure from St. Louis Blues' Vladimir Tarasenko during the third period of an NHL hockey game. The St. Louis Blues defeated the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 on January 25, 2017, at Scottrade Center in St. Louis, MO. (Photo by Tim Spyers/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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The Colorado Avalanche face an important Central Division game in St. Louis against the Blues. They need to win this game to keep their playoff hopes alive.

The Colorado Avalanche are still trying to claw their way into a playoff spot. Props to them — they’ve now been three games without star center Nathan MacKinnon, going 2-1-0 in his absence so far. (This makes the fourth of hopefully only seven games sans Nate.)

Colorado is coming off a 3-1 win over the San Jose Sharks in Pepsi Center. St. Louis fell 6-2 to the (hated) Minnesota Wild on Tuesday. That’s a game you wanted to see both forfeit, but the Blues would have done the Avs a solid by winning.

Colorado and St. Louis have met twice already this season. The Blues prevailed both times — 4-3 on October 19, and 3-1 on January 25.

This game marks the first of a three-game roadie for Colorado.

How to Enjoy the Game

Game time: February 8 , 6 pm MT
TV Networks: Altitude TV (Avs feed), FS-MW (Blues feed)
Radio: Altitude Radio (AM 950)

Hot Goalies

More from Mile High Sticking

The Colorado Avalanche did not deserve to win the game against the San Jose Sharks. I’m glad they did, but the players didn’t really play to a 3-1 decision. Goalie Jonathan Bernier played lights out, recording a .947 save percentage on 39 shots.

Bernier has been the hot hand this season. He’s gone 16-9-2 with a .919 save percentage and 2.62 goals against average. He tied a franchise-best by winning nine straight during that 10-game winning streak. He’s the goalie tapped to start in St. Louis.

At the time of writing, the Blues hadn’t announced who their starting goalie was. However, if I was Mike Yeo (thank God I’m not), my starter would be Carter Hutton. Though he was in net for the drubbing by the Wild, he had won four straight before that and six out of the last eight starting mid-January. He’s currently at .943 save percentage and 1.74 goals against average.

Colorado Avalanche Injury Update

Winger Mikko Rantanen went on the road with the Avalanche. However, at the time of writing, he was a game day decision. The plan is for Rantanen to skate this morning and see how he feels. He got banged up in the loss against the Winnipeg Jets and did not play against the Sharks.

Neither Mark Barberio nor Sven Andrighetto are even skating. Both are out with lower body injuries, though neither has been put on injured reserve.

MacKinnon has been skating all along since his injury in the game against the Vancouver Canucks. Here he is skating in yesterday’s practice:

As Denver Post writer Nick Groke notes, MacKinnon did stick work but did not shoot. He has a shoulder injury.

Some good news for Colorado Avalanche prospects:

Vladislav Kamenev is one of the prospects whom the Avalanche got in return for Matt Duchene. Washington Capitals defenseman Brooks Orpik broke Kamenev’s arm on the rookie’s third-ever shift with Colorado. He had to have surgery and has been on IR since mid-November.

Next: Zetterberg Says What we all Think of NHL Refs

The Avalanche face the Blues two more times this season. They’ll return to St. Louis on March 15 then finish their regular season at home against St. Louis on April 7.

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