The St. Louis Blues' six-year run of making the playoffs came to a painful end on Saturday night with a 5-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche in a do-or-die winner-take-all showdown in the season's final game in Denver.
The Blues finished one point in back of Colorado, 95 points to 94, in the battle for the Western Conference's second wild card spot. If the teams had finished tied at 95, various tiebreakers would have given the Blues the playoff spot. Instead, Colorado, which had the worst record in the NHL last season, will face Nashville in the first round.
In an event symbolic of the challenge the Blues faced all season, the Blues played most of the game without leading scorer Vladimir Tarasenko, who appeared to hurt his left shoulder in the first period. He had his arm at his side as he skated to the bench after trying to check Gabriel Landeskog moving through the neutral zone. After a brief stay on the bench, he moved to the dressing room and did not return.
By the end of the season, the Blues were without defensemen Jay Bouwmeester and Carl Gunnarsson and forward Scottie Upshall.
The Blues rotated players through Tarasenko's spot for the remainder of the game.
The Blues were kept alive in the game by goalie Jake Allen, who made all manner of great saves to keep the game close and who wasn't at fault on any of the Colorado goals. He looked to be shaken up toward the end of the second period but stayed in the game. Allen finished by stopping 34 of the 37 shots he faced.
The game was closer and tighter than the final score would indicate, as the Blues pulled Allen with 4:35 to go and gave up two empty-net goals.
It was a tough night for the Blues, who had an offside challenge go against them about 6 minutes into the second period. Colorado was on the power play and the puck came precariously close to leaving the attacking zone, but play continued and Colorado scored. The Blues challenged and after a very long review, the goal stood.
The league said: "After NHL Hockey Operations staff reviewed all available replays and consulted with the Linesman, it was determined there were no definitive replays which showed that the puck left the attacking zone. Therefore, the call on the ice was upheld."
That goal put the Blues down 2-0 in a game where they just needed to be tied after 60 minutes to get the point they needed for a playoff berth. The Blues got the goal back on a power-play goal by Jaden Schwartz, who deflected in a shot by Alex Pietrangelo with 7:32 to go in the second. But the Avalanche extended the lead back to two on a goal by Nathan MacKinnon with 3:02 to go. It was the 39th goal of the season for MacKinnon.
The Blues, needing two goals to tie, pulled Allen with 4:35 to go for a sixth attacker, but after a long possession, the Avalanche got control of the puck and Landesko shot the puck the length of the ice to make it 4-1 with 3:23 to play.
Brayden Schenn scored with 37.2 seconds left to get one goal back for the Blues and then Colorado got a goal with 8.8 seconds to play for the final score.
