Avalanche: 56-19-7, 119 points; defeated Nashville Predators 4-0 in first round
Blues: 49-22-11, 109 points; defeated Minnesota Wild 4-2 in first round
Season series: COL 2-1-0; STL 1-2-0
Game 1: Tuesday (9:30 p.m. ET; TNT, SN, CBC, TVAS)
The Colorado Avalanche are desperate to get past the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. This time, it's the St. Louis Blues who are standing in their way.
The Avalanche haven't been to a conference final since 2002, when they lost to the Detroit Red Wings in seven games. They have lost in the second round each of the past three seasons.
The Blues are in the second round for the first time since they won the Stanley Cup in 2019.
Colorado won the Central Division with 119 points, 10 more than St. Louis, which finished third. But the Blues went 14-4-2 in their final 20 regular-season games and eliminated the Minnesota Wild in six games in the first round.
"They're deep; they're extremely deep," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "Numbers show it; 109 points, nine] 20-goal guys, top special teams in the League. All of it. Everything makes it a tough test."
But Colorado was the second-best team in the regular season, finishing three points behind the Florida Panthers. The Avalanche outscored the Nashville Predators 21-9 in a four-game sweep.
"They're a great team, Colorado, we all know that," St. Louis 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."
That is the game plan the Blues followed against the Wild, so they know how to do it. Also, they said they're aware of how dangerous the Avalanche can be after being swept last season in the first round by Colorado, when they were outscored 20-7.
"I think we're a better team than last year for sure," Blues captain Ryan 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. "It's going to be a fun and tough challenge again for us."
[RELATED: [Complete Avalanche vs. Blues series coverage]
Colorado defenseman Cale Makar leads the Avalanche with 10 points (three goals, seven assists), the fourth-highest total in the playoffs. Gabriel Landeskog has six points (three goals, three assists), Nathan MacKinnon has scored five goals and Mikko Rantanen has five assists.
Berube said those players provide a unique challenge because they are big and heavy forwards who can be a handful for the defense.
Goalie Darcy Kuemper was 2-0, allowing four goals on 61 shots before he sustained an eye injury in Game 3. He is expected to be ready for the start of the second round.
St. Louis forwards David Perron, O'Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko each scored five goals in the first round.
Goalie Jordan Binnington replaced Ville Husso for Game 4 against Minnesota and won three straight games, allowing five goals on 88 shots.
Binnington started all three regular-season games against the Avalanche, going 1-2-0 with a 3.78 GAA and .897 save percentage.
"They've been getting good goaltending from both those guys, and if one guy's struggled, the other guy's gone in and given them exactly what they needed over the course of the whole season and playoffs so far; using both guys in the first round," Bednar said. "I can't pinpoint anything, one singular thing. Just one guy gets hot, they ride him. If he cools off, they go to the next guy."
