3 Keys: Blues at Avalanche, Game 1 of Western Second Round

Blues (3C) at Avalanche (1C)
Western Conference Second Round, Game 1
9:30 p.m. ET; TNT, CBC, SN, TVAS

The wait is finally over for the Colorado Avalanche and, to a lesser extent, the St. Louis Blues, when they open the best-of-7 Western Conference Second Round at Ball Arena on Tuesday.
The Avalanche have not played since finishing a first-round sweep of the Nashville Predators in the best-of-7 first round on May 9, a seven-day layoff. The Blues have been off since completing a six-game win against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday, a stretch of four days off.
Despite the time away and the possibility of some rust developing, Colorado coach Jared Bednar said Tuesday he believes his team is ready.
"It's about] making sure the [players] are asking the right questions to get what they need from meetings, competitive practices, get through our systems, get a good amount of knowledge on St. Louis," he said. "I mean, our guys are ready to go. Practiced hard, rested, practiced hard again, been through every aspect of our game. Just now looking forward to getting out there and competing."
***[RELATED: [Complete Avalanche vs. Blues series coverage]*
Each team is looking to make an early statement, as in the first round; the Avalanche defeated the Predators 7-2 in Game 1, setting the tone for the domination to come. The Blues shut out the Wild 4-0 in the opener to take early control of that series.
Here are three keys for Game 1:

1. Familiarity breeds knowledge

These teams know each other almost too well.
They have played 15 times since the start of the 2020-21 regular season, during which Colorado won five of eight games and then outscored St. Louis 20-7 in a four-game sweep in the Stanley Cup First Round. This season the Avalanche were 2-1-0 against the Blues, giving Colorado an 11-4-0 edge against St. Louis in that stretch.
Though each team has changed several players since the start of last season, the cores remain the same and there is an inherent familiarity that could allow each team to get to its game faster.
"We know their tendencies and their players very well," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "But then again, you still have to go out and perform at a high level, that's the bottom line. We have to perform at a high level as a team and the individuals have to perform at a high level, especially against their top guys. When you are out there, you have to do a good job."

2. No fear of 7/11

St. Louis used an alignment of seven defensemen and 11 forwards during the series against Minnesota and at times caused the Wild problems in accounting for the rotation of skilled players that were placed onto the Blues' fourth line.
St. Louis, 10-4-2 with an 11/7 lineup this season (regular season and playoffs), likely will continue with the non-traditional lineup to start this series.
The Avalanche say they are ready for the wrinkle.
"If they want to go 11/7, our forwards will put pressure on all seven of those 'D,'" Colorado defenseman Devon Toews said. "And we'll break the puck out and make those 11 go 200 feet every time and wear them down."

3. Altitude adjustment

It will be interesting to see how the Blues adjust to playing at Ball Arena, a mile above sea level, a fact proudly and emphatically pointed out everywhere inside the building.
Visiting teams traditionally have trouble adjusting to the altitude, which is problematic during the regular season but can be even more costly in a best-of-7 series, where a tough start can put an opponent in a hole quickly.
After completing their first-round series, the Blues chose to practice in St. Louis on Saturday and Monday before traveling to Denver.
Berube said the Blues did not believe the 48 hours in Colorado would make a huge difference.
Expect St. Louis to take even shorter shifts than usual and for the home team to try to hem the Blues in for long stretches of chasing the puck. This battle will be especially important in the second period, when the long change is in effect.
"Sometimes if you get stuck out there you get a littler winded and I think the recovery throughout your shifts might take a little bit longer," Blues forward Brandon Saad said. "When you manage the game that way and you play well as a team, it shouldn't be an issue."
During home games in the regular season, the Avalanche outscored opponents 56-41 in the second period and 64-37 in the third period and overtime.

Blues projected lineup

Brayden Schenn -- Ryan O'Reilly -- David Perron
Pavel Buchnevich -- Robert Thomas -- Vladimir Tarasenko
Brandon Saad -- Ivan Barbashev -- Jordan Kyrou
Alexey Toropchenko -- Tyler Bozak
Nick Leddy -- Colton Parayko
Calle Rosen -- Justin Faulk
Niko Mikkola -- Robert Bortuzzo
Scott Perunovich
Jordan Binnington
Ville Husso
Scratched: Nathan Walker, Logan Brown, Steven Santini
Injured: Torey Krug (lower body), Marco Scandella (lower body)

Avalanche projected lineup

Valeri Nichushkin -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Gabriel Landeskog -- Nazem Kadri -- Artturi Lehkonen
Andre Burakovsky -- J.T. Compher -- Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Darren Helm -- Nico Sturm -- Andrew Cogliano
Devon Toews -- Cale Makar
Samuel Girard -- Josh Manson
Bowen Byram -- Erik Johnson
Darcy Kuemper
Pavel Francouz
Scratched: Logan O'Connor, Jack Johnson, Alex Newhook, Ryan Murray, Kurtis MacDermid, Hunter Miska
Injured: None

Status report

Scandella participated in the morning skate Tuesday, but the Blues defenseman is not expected to play. He was injured during Game 4 of the first round. ... Kuemper will start after missing Game 4 of the first round because of an eye injury. ... Cogliano is expected to play after missing three games in the first round because of an upper-body injury.