Game 3 between the St. Louis Blues and Colorado Avalanche was costly for both teams on Saturday night.
The Avalanche lost defenseman Sam Girard for the remainder of the playoffs due to a broken sternum.
The Blues not only lost the game, 4-2, and fell into a 2-1 series deficit, but they also lost goalie Jordan Binnington for the remainder of the second round due to a lower-body injury.
Binnington was injured in a nasty collision early in the game. He exited immediately and was replaced by Ville Husso.
Husso started the playoffs as the Blues starting goalie following a strong second half in the regular season but struggled early in the First Round against the Minnesota Wild. After losing two of the first three games the Blues decided to make the switch back to Binnington. It had been going extremely well. Going into Saturday’s game Binnington had won four of his first five starts and had a .948 save percentage. He was the biggest reason the series was tied going into Saturday.
Now the job falls back on Husso as he has to help the Blues win three of the next four games if they are going to advance. He showed during the regular season he is capable of playing at a high level, and the Blues are definitely going to need him to find that level again here against one of the best teams in the league.
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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.