The Russian forward of “St. Louis” Ivan Barbashev decided to start the next meeting of the second round of the Stanley Cup with “Colorado” as aggressively as possible, dangerously attacking the opponent’s defender. But just a few minutes later, due to retaliatory aggression, the Blues lost their goalkeeper and, in fact, their chance to win.

The Avalanches are not the easiest opponent for St. Louis. According to bookmakers’ estimates, it is Colorado that is the favorite for the Stanley Cup. Therefore, a strong start in the playoffs with a victory over Nashville (4-0) in the first round did not surprise anyone. The Blues are a team of a completely different level than the Predators, but in this confrontation, the advantage is given to Colorado. According to the results of the first two matches in Denver, the score in the series was 1-1, but the Avalanches looked more confident and miraculously did not defeat St. Louis in the first meeting.

At the start of the first home game, the Blues wanted to immediately set the fighting mood. This was done by Russian forward Ivan Barbashev, who, in the second minute of the first period, with all his strength put Colorado defender Samuel Girard to the board. The hit looked creepy, because the Canadian got not only in the body, but also in the head area. And this is fraught with a concussion and removal from the match.

However, there was no question of continuing the game without a preliminary diagnosis. Girard could not get up from the ice on his own, but went straight from the arena to the hospital for an examination. There, he was diagnosed with a fractured sternum. The hockey season is over. It’s a pretty big loss for Colorado: Girard was the third-highest-scoring defenseman in the regular season with 28 points. One can only sympathize with the Canadian and his club.

Surprisingly, Avalanches coach Jared Bernard did not call on the NHL to punish Barbashev for the reception. Moreover, he admitted that the Russian hit was clean.

Ivan Barbashev / Photo: © Icon Sportswire / Contributor / Icon Sportswire / Gettyimages.com

“The collision was terrible,” Bernard said after the match. – But I think the power reception was clean. Yes, it looked like he was after Girard’s head, but the whole blow went to the body. The defender was in an unfortunate position, which is why the reception turned out to be so creepy. But overall it was clean.

Fans discussing Barbashev’s reception were divided into two camps: someone agreed with Bernard, and someone remembered that these were not the first tough attacks on rivals by the Russian. “If Barbashev’s hit is not considered by the player safety department, then the league will confirm that it doesn’t care about the safety of hockey players,” “Barbashev’s hit was clean. It’s hockey guys.”

Shortly after the incident, St. Louis, to the delight of their fans, opened the scoring with goals. And then the Colorados responded loudly: forward Nazem Kadri, in the heat of the fight, flew at full speed into the Blues goaltender, incapacitating him.

Photo: © REUTERS/Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

The loss of Jordan Binnington against a team with one of the strongest offenses in the league is a real tragedy for St. Louis. The disappointment of the goalkeeper himself was so strong that he could not contain his emotions. During a break, when his abuser Kadri was giving a live television commentary, he threw a plastic water bottle at him. Forward “Colorado” at first did not understand who attacked him, assuming that it was Binnington. The media later confirmed this information.

Ville Husso, who urgently stood at the gate of St. Louis, missed one puck in the first period and three more in the next two. Also, Colorado threw into an empty net while Husso ran to the bench. The Bluesmen only had one goal, although in general the hosts turned over the guests with a score of 31:27. But the unexpected loss of Binnington confused all the cards for St. Louis: the players themselves admitted that they could not quickly recover from the unexpected rearrangement. Prior to leaving the game, Binnington was second in the playoffs behind the Dallas goalie in save percentage with 94.8.

After three meetings, the score in the series is 2-1 in favor of Colorado. The end of the confrontation is still far away, and serious passions have already broken out. The next match, which will take place on Tuesday night, will once again be hosted by St. Louis.

NHL. Playoffs

“St. Louis Blues” (St. Louis) – “Colorado Avalanche” (Denver) – 2:5 (1:1, 1:2, 0:2)

Goals: Paraiko, 3:55. O’Reilly, 39:30. — O’Connor, 10:57. Qadri, 33:38. Lehkonen, 37:15, 59:02. Landeskog, 57:52.

Score in the series – 1:2