There were a handful of times in Game 1 of this series on Tuesday night where the Avalanche had scoring opportunities thwarted because they hit the post. However, let’s not take away from Jordan Binnington’s brilliant performance.

If not for their goaltender putting on an absolute clinic, the Blues would have lost that game but three-plus goals. Binnington made several glove saves throughout a frantic second period and overtime to give his team an opportunity to steal a game in Colorado. The Aves eventually won 3-2 in overtime when they outshot the Blues by a whopping 13-0 margin, but again, let’s not take anything away from Binnington’s individual performance.

That was also the problem: Outside of Binnington and captain Ryan O’Reilly, nobody else showed up for the Blues. The second line of Vladimir Tarasenko, Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich was nowhere to be found and the talk on Wednesday in St. Louis is that coach Craig Berube will shake things up ahead of Game 2 tonight.

Berube has had a knack since 2019 of making the right move at the exact right time and it wouldn’t shock me if the Blues pulled off the upset tonight in Denver. That said, I see more value in the Under, which currently sits at 6.5 goals. One of the Blues’ biggest strengths entering the playoffs was their scoring depth, but even in the club’s Conference Quarterfinals win over Minnesota, that has not been on display. And while the Avalanche can score at will, Binnington is clearly back to peak form after losing his job mid-season to Ville Husso. He might not match his performance from Game 1 but if he gets close, then Colorado’s scoring output will be held in check once again.

Give me the Under 6.5.