The St. Louis Blues kicked off the season with a bang, shutting out the Dallas Stars 4-0. Mason McTavish lit the lamp just 1:34 in, and Dalibor Dvorsky added a goal in the second period to build the lead. Jimmy Snuggerud and Pius Suter scored empty-netters to seal it, while Joel Hofer made 25 saves for his first shutout of the year. But there’s a worry: Alexey Toropchenko left with an upper-body injury that’s more than day-to-day.
The Colorado Avalanche, coming off a strong regular season but a playoff sweep, have been busy. They locked up Cale Makar with a big extension and brought in Jaden Schwartz, while trading away Valeri Nichushkin and others. Despite the changes, they’ve got Nathan MacKinnon, who won the Rocket Richard last season, and captain Gabriel Landeskog leading the charge. The Avs just hammered the Los Angeles Kings 8-4, with MacKinnon scoring twice.
This matchup pits the hot-starting Blues against the always-dangerous Avalanche in a key early test.
