If the St. Louis Blues want to reach their second Stanley Cup Final since 2019, they'll most likely need their backup goalie to play hero. In the team's Game 3 home loss to the Colorado Avalanche in Game 3 of the Western semifinals on Saturday, starting netminder Jordan Binnington suffered a series-ending knee injury on a crease collision, and he could reportedly miss multiple weeks.
Binnington -- whose hot play helped lift St. Louis to a title three seasons ago -- went down late in the first period, when Avalanche center Nazem Kadri and Blues defenseman Calle Rosen crashed the net for a loose puck. And so their championship hopes now rest on backup goalie Ville Husso's shoulders, and he happened to enter these Stanley Cup Playoffs atop St. Louis' depth chart.
"This was really [Husso's] first full year of getting a lot of experience. But the playoffs are a different animal," Blues reporter Lou Korac told After Hours with Amy Lawrence on Monday. "They gave him their keys to start the playoffs this year. He got a shutout in Game 1 against Minnesota during the first round, and played really well doing it. He may've been a bit overwhelmed... Craig Berube felt he needed to make a change when they went down 2-1 in that series...
"We'll see if they can overcome this. Just an unfortunate thing that happened [to Binnington]. I think they have the confidence in Villie Husso because he's played well throughout the season. He was 25-7-6 during the regular season, nothing to sneeze at. He was really good... They have confidence that he can make the saves. Strategically, things might change a little bit. But I don't think it's going to change the demeanor of this team."
St. Louis, which placed third in the Central Division (109 points) this season, will play Game 4 against Colorado on Monday at Enterprise Center (9:30 p.m. ET puck drop). According to FiveThirtyEight's projections, the Blues currently have a 22-percent chance to reach the West Final and a 13-percent chance to reach the Stanley Cup Final. Binnington stopped 81 of 85 shots in the first two games of the semifinal series, and went 4-1 across his five playoff starts.
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