St. Louis Blues veteran Tyler Bozak logged less than eight minutes of ice time in Game 5 of the Western semifinals on Wednesday night. But the 36-year-old center made the most of his role against the Colorado Avalanche, and actually played hero under ominous do-or-die pressure.
Facing elimination in overtime, Bozak's slap-shot past Avalanche goalie Darcy Kuemper clinched a 5-4 road win for the Blues at Ball Arena, and capped off a stunning comeback that included three third-period goals. According to ESPN Stats, St. Louis became the first team in NHL history to record two game-tying goals in the final five minutes of regulation when facing elimination.
"When it got to overtime, I went back to my thought process of how I wanted the game to start. And I was using everybody and getting everyone involved," Blues coach Craig Berube told The Zach Gelb Show on Thursday. "They came up, their line was up, and they went out and did the job and got us a big goal. There's a lot of ups and downs. We tied it up and then let McKinnon go down and through us, and score that goal.
"We've got to do a better job not allowing that to happen. But our guys, like I said last night, they weren't down. They were positive, still. There was plenty of time. And so we talked about the gameplan with getting the goalie out and going to work. So, did a real good job of it. And then we got a timeout, which really helped. That was important, that we could get that timeout and faceoff in the offensive zone. So, it worked out. Lots of ups and downs in a game."
St. Louis, which placed third in the Central Division (109 points) this season, will play Game 6 against Colorado on Friday night at Enterprise Center (8:00 ET puck drop). According to FiveThirtyEight projections, the Blues currently have an 18-percent chance to reach the West Final and a 10-percent chance to reach their second Stanley Cup Final since 2019.
The entire Blues conversation between Berube and Gelb can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow The Zach Gelb Show on Twitter @ZachGelb and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.