St. Louis advanced with a 5-1 win against the Minnesota Wild in Game 6 on Thursday. Colorado swept the Nashville Predators in their first-round series with a 5-3 in Game 4 at Bridgestone Arena on Monday.
The Avalanche, who are the No. 1 seed from the Central Division and Western Conference, will have home-ice advantage against the Blues, the No. 3 seed from the Central.
Colorado defenseman Cale Makar had a goal and two assists on Monday and is tied for third in the NHL with 10 points (three goals, seven assists) this postseason. Gabriel Landeskog has six points (three goals, three assists), Nathan MacKinnon scored five goals, and Mikko Rantanen had five assists.
Darcy Kuemper was 2-0, allowing four goals on 61 shots before he sustained an eye injury in Game 3. Pavel Francouz, who replaced him, won the final two games of the series.
St. Louis forwards David Perron, Ryan O'Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko each scored five goals in the first round against Minnesota, and Perron led the Blues with nine points.
Jordan Binnington went 3-0 and has allowed five goals on 88 shots since replacing Ville Husso as the starting goalie in Game 4.
"They're a great team, Colorado, we all know that," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "They've got a lot of high-end players. You're going to have to do a lot of things right and you're going to have to be real disciplined and stay out of the penalty box against them."
Colorado went 2-1-0 against St. Louis during the regular season and was led by J.T. Compher, who had six points (three goals, three assists), Kadri, who had four (two goals, two assists), and Makar, who had three (one goal, two assists). Kuemper started all three games and had a 3.40 GAA and .870 save percentage.
Jordan Kyrou led the Blues with six assists, O'Reilly had four points (three goals, one assist), and Perron and Brayden Schenn each scored two goals. Binnington started all three games, going 1-2-0 with a 3.78 GAA and .897 save percentage.
"They're tough to play against," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said Friday. "They take away all your time and space, and then if you make mistakes and try to push the limits with your puck play and you don't manage the puck properly, they'll make you pay."
The Avalanche, who advanced to the second round of the playoffs for the fourth straight season, swept the Blues in the first round last season.
"I think we're a better team than last year for sure," O'Reilly said. "It's going to be a very tough challenge for us. They are one of, if not the best teams in the League this year. They're dynamic, they're deep as well, but we enjoy tonight, we enjoy winning (this) series and we start focusing tomorrow on them and know that it's going to be a fun and tough challenge again for us."
Colorado defenseman Josh Manson said defending O'Reilly will present a big challenge.
"He's talented, obviously," Manson said. "He's really strong on pucks. So you've got to be smart when you're around him. Obviously, around the net he's got great finish. Like I said, strong on pucks. So you've got to bear down that extra bit, otherwise it's off your stick in a hurry and he's going the other direction and making a play with the puck. So he's a dangerous player."
NHL.com independent correspondents Lou Korac and Ryan Boulding contributed to this report
