3 Keys: Avalanche at Blues, Game 4 of first round

No. 1 Avalanche at No. 4 Blues
5 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN360, TVAS, BSMW, ALT
Colorado leads best-of-7 series, 3-0

The Colorado Avalanche can advance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs by defeating the St. Louis Blues in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup First Round at Enterprise Center on Sunday.
The Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques are 5-0 in a postseason series when winning the first three games, 4-0 since relocating to Colorado in May 1995.
Avalanche forward Nazem Kadri will not play Game 4, the second of his eight-game suspension for an illegal check to the head of Blues defenseman Justin Faulk with 13:34 remaining in the third period of Game 2 on Wednesday. Kadri would miss the rest of this series and the start of the second round if the Avalanche advance.
"Obviously it's tough news to hear, he's a big part of our team," Colorado forward Brandon Saad said. "It's a lot of games, so not much you can really say. We're [going to] have to soldier up, have a next-man-up mentality, and win some games without him."
Teams that lead 3-0 are 192-4 (.979) winning a best-of-7 series; 121 have ended in a sweep.
Here are 3 keys for Game 4:

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1. Completing the sweep

The Avalanche are determined to sweep the series and deny the Blues any reason for optimism.
"It's important," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "Whenever we have a chance to eliminate a team, it's always the hardest game to win. I think that our guys understand that. It's just good habits and playing the right way. We're playing to win every night and we're confident in our team. We'll go out and put our best foot forward and try to get the job done.
"It's playoffs, and you're trying to win, you're trying to get the rest, trying to get time to prepare. A lot of things come into it, so we'll come out and give it a shot."

2. Urgency needed

The Blues are 0-9 when trailing a best-of-7 series 3-0, but St. Louis coach Craig Berube said he knows one win could potentially spark a turnaround.
"To win a game tomorrow changes everything, in my opinion," Berube said. "Momentum is a funny thing. You get a win and you can get on a little roll."
St. Louis was last swept from an NHL postseason series by the Los Angeles Kings in the 2012 Western Conference Semifinals. The Blues won Game 4 once to extend a series, against the Chicago Black Hawks in the 1973 NHL Quarterfinals before losing in five.

3. Cool Grubauer

Philipp Grubauer made 31 saves for the Avalanche in Game 3, including 16 in the second period. He has a 1.67 goals-against average and .944 save percentage in the three wins.
"He's played really well all year," Colorado defenseman Ryan Graves said. "He's been our best player on a lot of nights. There are nights [Nathan MacKinnon] or [Mikko Rantanen] takes over, but there's a lot of nights that 'Grubie' is really good. You don't even know he's been so good because he just makes the saves so effortless, time and time again."
Grubauer was 30-9-1 with a 1.95 GAA, .922 save percentage and seven shutouts in 40 games (39 starts) during the regular season.

Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Andre Burakovsky -- J.T. Compher -- Joonas Donskoi
Brandon Saad -- Tyson Jost -- Valeri Nichushkin
Carl Soderberg -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Alex Newhook
Devon Toews -- Cale Makar
Ryan Graves -- Samuel Girard
Patrik Nemeth -- Conor Timmins
Philipp Grubauer
Jonas Johansson
Scratched:Bowen Byram, Devan Dubnyk, Dennis Gilbert, Jacob MacDonald, Liam O'Brien, Jayson Megna, Dan Renouf, Kiefer Sherwood, Miikka Salomaki , T.J. Tynan, Martin Kaut , Keaton Middleton, Sampo Ranta, Kyle Burroughs, Adam Werner, Justus Annunen
Injured:Matt Calvert (upper body), Logan O'Connor (lower body)
Suspended: Nazem Kadri

Blues projected lineup

Ivan Barbashev -- Ryan O'Reilly -- Jordan Kyrou
Jaden Schwartz -- Brayden Schenn -- Vladimir Tarasenko
Mike Hoffman -- Tyler Bozak -- Robert Thomas
Kyle Clifford -- Zach Sanford -- Sammy Blais
Marco Scandella -- Colton Parayko
Torey Krug -- Steven Santini
Niko Mikkola --
Mitch Reinke
Jordan Binnington
Ville Husso
Scratched:Jake Walman, Klim Kostin, Dakota Joshua , Mackenzie MacEachern, Jacob de la Rose, Austin Poganski , Joel Hofer, Jon Gillies, Tyler Tucker
Injured:Justin Faulk (upper body), Robert Bortuzzo (upper body), Vince Dunn (upper body)
COVID-19 protocol:David Perron, Nathan Walker

Status report

The Avalanche are not expected to make any lineup changes. ... Faulk and Bortuzzo, also a defenseman, will not play. ... Dunn, a defenseman, is questionable. He took part in an optional practice Saturday and has missed 14 straight games. … Walman, a defenseman, will be a game-time decision after being removed from COVID-19 protocol Friday; he has missed the past six games and would replace Reinke.