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ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- The St. Louis Blues look to begin their
battle against history and the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday
night when the teams meet at Savvis Center in Game Three of their
Western Conference final series.
| CURRENT SERIES |
May 12
May 14
May 16
May 18
May 21
May 23
May 25
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at Colorado 4, St. Louis 1
at Colorado 4, St. Louis 2
Colorado at St. Louis, 7:00pm ET
Colorado at St. Louis, 7:00pm ET
St. Louis at Colorado, 8:00pm ET *
Colorado at St. Louis, 7:00pm ET *
St. Louis at Colorado, 8:00pm ET *
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* - if necessary
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The Blues have lost all nine best-of-seven series after dropping
the first two games. Scott Mellanby and Al MacInnis scored power-play goals for the
Blues in Game Two on Monday. But Shjon Podein netted the
game-winner with 6:39 left for the Avalanche, who held on for a
4-2 victory over the Blues to take a two games to none lead. St. Louis has yielded too many goals with Colorado enjoying a
man advantage. After allowing one power-play goal in 39 chances
over the first two rounds, the Blues have surrendered four in
nine chances against the Avalanche.
To make matters worse for St. Louis, Colorado has lost just two
of 12 playoff series when winning the first two games. When
playing as the Quebec Nordiques, the Avalanche franchise lost
to the Montreal Canadiens in seven games in the 1987 conference
semifinals and six games in the 1993 conference quarterfinals. Current Avalanche goaltender Patrick Roy played for the
Canadiens during those seasons. Roy made 31 saves in Game One on Saturday and Joe Sakic
converted a penalty shot, scored an insurance goal and added two
assists to lead Colorado to a 4-1 victory over a well-rested St.
Louis team. Players like Mellanby and Keith Tkachuk must plant themselves at
the top of the Avalanche's crease to try and distract Roy, who
has allowed just six goals in his last half-dozen playoff games. The Blues also need superb goaltending of their own if they hope
to get back into the series. When Roman Turek allows two goals
or fewer, St. Louis has posted a 7-1 record during the 2001
playoffs. He must return to the form of the first two rounds,
when Turek was leading all playoff goalies with a 1.60
goals-against average and .938 save percentage. The Avalanche are just 4-8 all-time in Game Threes after winning
the opening two contests of a playoff series, but have won two
of their last three.
| COLORADO | ST. LOUIS |
CONFERENCE QUARTERFINALS
Apr. 12
Apr. 14
Apr. 16
Apr. 18
|
Vancouver
Vancouver
@ Vancouver
@ Vancouver
|
W 5-4
W 2-1
W 4-3
W 5-1
|
CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS
Apr. 26
Apr. 28
Apr. 30
May 2
May 4
May 6
May 9
|
Los Angeles
Los Angeles
@ Los Angeles
@ Los Angeles
Los Angeles
@ Los Angeles
Los Angeles
|
L 3-4
W 2-0
W 4-3
W 3-0
L 0-1
L 0-1
W 5-1
|
|
CONFERENCE QUARTERFINALS
Apr. 12
Apr. 14
Apr. 16
Apr. 17
Apr. 19
Apr. 21
|
San Jose
San Jose
@ San Jose
@ San Jose
San Jose
@ San Jose
|
W 3-1
L 0-1
W 6-3
L 2-3
W 3-2
W 2-1
|
CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS
Apr. 27
Apr. 29
May 1
May 3
|
@ Dallas
@ Dallas
Dallas
Dallas
|
W 4-2
W 2-1
W 3-2
W 4-1
|
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Colorado Clubhouse
St. Louis Clubhouse
PREVIEWS
Colorado @
St. Louis
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