Colorado has been starting the regular season for the past few years as one of the favorites for the championship. In the 2020/21 season, Evs took the President’s Cup, and at the end of this season they became the second team in the league.

At the same time, Valery Nichushkin’s team still fails to develop success in knockout games. The last time the Colorado hockey players played in the conference finals was almost 20 years ago. And now, the Aves were closer than ever to repeat their long-standing success: they led the series with St. Louis 3-1, and by the middle of the fifth match they defeated the Bluesmen 3-0.

But the Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko intervened in the matter, who kept the scoring silence for the entire second round. The Russian in the most important match marked the beginning of the comeback and helped the Blues escape from relegation a minute before the final siren.

Failed against Colorado

Tarasenko had a very strong season – he restarted his career and broke several club records. And at the end of the regular season, no one even remembered that the leader of the Blues could leave the team last summer. Looking at how Tarasenko plays for the emblem on the jersey and at his sports uniform, it was hard to believe that the paths of the player and the club could have diverged.

But the main thing is that, contrary to negative forecasts, Tarasenko was able to transfer his performance to the playoffs. In the first round in the series against Minnesota, the Russian has six (5+1) points. And before the start of the conference semi-finals, Blues fans considered Tarasenko one of the keys to defeating the formidable Colorado. But in terms of performance, the series against Evs did not work out for the Russian.

Photo: © REUTERS / Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

The leader of the Blues in this confrontation has done a lot of dirty work in defense. And when it comes to playing in the minority, the coaching staff first releases Tarasenko on the ice. In the attack, he could not help the team in any way – in the first four matches there was only one goal.

But the leader of the “bluesmen” still said his word and did it at the right time.

Tarasenko recalled a miracle

It’s hard to imagine a worse start of the match for the fans of the “bluesmen” – already in the fourth minute, Nathan McKinnon brought the “Evs” forward, and at the end of the period he also converted the majority. At this point, the Blues fans were still trying to hope for the best and wait for their favorites to fix the situation. But then the second 20-minute kicked off, and the puck was again at the gates of the “bluesmen” – Gabriel Landeskog, from the transfer of the same MacKinnon, gave the “Evs” a comfortable advantage in the long run.

Colorado has amazing roster depth, where there is always a player who can turn the tide of the game. So in the last match, it was Nazem Kadri, who scored a hat-trick, and in this McKinnon, the Canadian was unstoppable in the fifth match.

In addition to the missed puck, St. Louis also received a removal. At this moment, most of the fans have already begun to say goodbye to the season.

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However, there was no handshake. “St. Louis” survived in the minority, and at the end of the period Tarasenko scored the first goal in the confrontation with “Colorado”. And in the break before the final 20 minutes, the Blues fans had hope.

And in the third period, the Blues did not let their fans down. First, Robert Thomas scored from Pavel Buchnevich’s pass, and then Aleksey Toropchenko assisted Justin Faulk. When the score became equal, then for sure the Blues fans with experience remembered one of the most famous comebacks in the history of the NHL – in the 1985/86 season, St. lost the match 1:4. But the “bluesmen” were able to turn the tide of the meeting and win in overtime. The truth about this beautiful story was quickly forgotten by St. Louis fans – two minutes after Faulk’s puck, McKinnon scored a hat-trick.

But the Blues hockey players simply could not come to terms with this situation. It was impossible to walk this path and give up. Therefore, the “bluesmen” began to play as if this was the last match in their lives. And 56 seconds before the siren, a miracle happened – after Tarasenko’s shot, the puck bounced onto the stick of Thomas, who sent it into an empty net. The stadium in Colorado fell into silence, because some 56 seconds separated the Evs from reaching the conference finals.

Vladimir Tarasenko / Photo: © Chris Tanouye / Contributor / National Hockey League / Gettyimages.com

The main time of the match ended and the meeting was moved to overtime. From the first seconds, the Colorado hockey players ran to take risks in attack, because they had the right to make a mistake, but the opponent did not. “St. Louis” did not fall for an open game, in the usual manner, waiting for an opportunity, and in the end, Tyler Bozak brought the victory to the “bluesmen” with an accurate throw.

That St. Louis game in the 1985-86 playoffs was called the “Monday Night Miracle.” True, in the seventh match then the Blues lost. Now, “St. Louis” will make every effort to repeat this “miracle”, but this time not only to equalize the score in the series, but also to win in the seventh match.