Kadri scores hat trick, Avalanche defeat Blues in Game 4

ST. LOUIS --Nazem Kadri scored his first Stanley Cup Playoff hat trick, and the Colorado Avalanche defeated the St. Louis Blues 6-3 in Game 4 of the Western Conference Second Round at Enterprise Center on Monday.

The Avalanche lead the best-of-7 series, 3-1. Game 5 will be at Colorado on Wednesday.
"I wanted to come out tonight and really put a mark on this game," said Kadri, who also had an assist. " … I tried to do that as best as possible. Sometimes you've got to be patient and you've got to wait. I was able to strike early in the second period and was able to get the mojo going, in terms of individually and as a team, so it felt amazing. Especially to do it on the road, it was pure."

Bowen Byram and Valeri Nichushkin each had two assists, and Darcy Kuemper made 17 saves for the Avalanche, who are the No. 1 seed from the Central Division.
David Perron scored twice, Pavel Buchnevich had a goal and an assist, and Ville Husso made 31 saves for the Blues, the No. 3 seed from the Central.
"We got out-skated for most of the game 5-on-5. It's pretty simple," St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. "I don't know why. We got out-skated. They out-skated us. Got to every loose puck. Lost a lot of puck battles."
RELATED: [Complete Avalanche vs. Blues series coverage]
Perron scored to make it 1-0 at 5:07 of the first period. Buchnevich intercepted a pass by Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews and fed Perron, who deked Kuemper from in front before sliding in the puck with his backhand.
St. Louis was outshot 15-3 in the first period.
"I'm not sure we ever had control of the game, even though we scored first," Perron said. "We didn't make them defend hard enough. We had some pushes, but not nearly consistent enough to win a hockey game."

Erik Johnson tied the game 1-1 at 2:44 of the second period on a shot from the blue line through traffic.
Kadri gave the Avalanche a 2-1 lead at 4:07, shooting short side on a 2-on-1 following a bad pinch by Blues defenseman Scott Perunovich in the neutral zone.
Toews then scored 19 seconds later to make it 3-1 off a turnover by forward Brayden Schenn.
Kadri extended the lead to 4-1 at 7:37, scoring seven seconds after a 5-on-3 power play expired but before Buchnevich and Perron could get back into the play. Buchnevich (roughing) and Perron (cross-checking) had each been in the box for penalties they made on Kadri away from the puck in the neutral zone.

However, Perron made it 4-2 at 17:02 on a one-timer from the left circle on a power play, and Buchnevich scored his own power-play goal with 33 seconds remaining in the second to cut it to 4-3.
"Loved our game 5-on-5, loved it," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "Right from the drop of the puck, we had a great first period, great second period. We get into penalty trouble, they score a couple of goals on the power play, things get tight, things get hairy."
Kadri completed the hat trick at 9:38 of the third period to make it 5-3.
"Yeah, can't give that goal up," Berube said. "It shouldn't have happened and that deflated us a bit. Made a push with the goalie out. While we had a power play, had a couple good looks on that power play to maybe make it a one-goal game, but again, overall, 5-on-5, they were way better than us tonight."
Mikko Rantanen shot into an empty net for his first goal of the playoffs with two seconds remaining for the 6-3 final.
"We came out right away in the third period and started playing the same way," Bednar said. "Great team game from our guys."
NOTES:Teams that take a 3-1 lead are 296-31 (.905) winning a best-of-7 NHL playoff series, including 0-1 in the 2022 first round. The New York Rangers defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins after trailing 3-1. ... Colorado is 4-0 on the road this postseason. ... Toews has four goals in the playoffs, two behind Rob Blake (six goals in 2001 and 2002) for the most by an Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques defenseman in a single postseason. Sandis Ozolinsh is second with five (1996 and 2000).