NBCSN will continue its coverage of the 2015-16 campaign tonight when the St. Louis Blues host the Colorado Avalanche at 8:30 p.m. ET. If you want to watch the game online, you can do so here.
After last night’s 4-3 win over the Nashville Predators, the Colorado Avalanche cut Minnesota’s Wild Card lead to just three points. It was a huge victory for the Avalanche, especially because they were coming off back-to-back home losses to the Flyers and Wild.
“It was a chance for us to play a strong game and prove that we weren’t going to give up,” Colorado coach Patrick Roy said, per the Denver Post. “We were always resilient after losses and we’ve been playing well on the road. I thought our guys responded really well. They had a really good start.”
If the Avalanche are going to make the postseason, it won’t be easy. Besides being three points out of a playoff spot, they also have a difficult schedule down the stretch. The Avs host the Capitals and Blues this week before going on the road to take on the Preds and Stars. They finish the season at home against the Ducks on Apr. 9. Every one of their remaining opponents is a playoff team.
The Avalanche will likely have one eye on the ice and one eye on the scoreboard tonight because the Wild are hosting the Blackhawks at 8:00 pm ET.
The Blues enter tonight’s game with four consecutive shutouts under their belt. Brian Elliott put up three straight donuts against the Canucks (twice) and the Sharks before Jake Allen blanked the Caps on Saturday night. Their current shutout streak is at a franchise record 240:18. St. Louis is expected to go back to Elliott tonight.
This isn’t as much of a do-or-die game for the Blues as it is for the Avs, but St. Louis still has something to play for. They’re currently tied for first in the Central Division with the Dallas Stars. Finishing ahead of Dallas would guarantee the Blues home ice advantage in the first two rounds of the playoffs (more if they finish at the top of the conference) and it would allow them to avoid Chicago in the first round.
St. Louis will continue to be without Jay Bouwmeester, Steve Ott and Carl Gunnarsson on Tuesday night, but they’ll be getting a big boost, as Alex Steen returns to the lineup. He missed 15 games with an upper-body injury.