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“Players who repeatedly violate league playing rules will be more severely punished for each new violation.”

That statement came straight from the Department of Player Safety’s video explaining center Nazem Kadri’s eight-game suspension.

Kadri was ejected in the third period of Game 2 for an illegal check to the head of Blues defenseman Justin Faulk.

The news broke during the first intermission of the Avalanche’s 5-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Friday at Enterprise Center. Colorado built a 3-0 series lead with an opportunity to complete the sweep Sunday.

Whether or not the series ends in four games, it’ll end without Kadri.

Kadri’s suspension was definitely warranted. And the fact that he had already accumulated five suspensions in a career that spans just over 700 games was enough to throw the book at him.

But eight games in the playoffs are a lot, regardless of who you’re suspending. The NHL often suspends players for less in the playoffs because of the importance of each game.

Which is something Avs coach Jared Bednar referenced as he expressed his disagreement in the lengthy suspension.

“I’m a little surprised, to be honest with you,” Bednar said. “I looked through all the headshot suspensions for the last year. A lot of two-gamers getting handed out. Significant hits to the head. We’ve had some guys put out with hits to the head and are still out with no suspension.”

“Generally the rule of thumb is that playoffs you get a little less and he got significantly more.”

To believe that Kadri’s hit was intentional or that he’s yet to learn his lesson is nonsense. In 2018 and 2019, Kadri made boneheaded plays out of frustration that were deserving of longer suspensions — like the five games he ended up missing in 2019. But this was a hit gone bad — really bad. It was by no means a malicious play.

One extra stride, one second, one look and it would’ve been a shoulder-to-shoulder collision. It’s bad luck for all involved.

Kadri has not been suspended or faced and discipline from the DoPS since his arrival in Colorado nearly two years ago.

“They lay out the rules of what’s a repeat offender and in my understanding, it’s 18 months,” Bednar said. “So you watch the video and they talk about him being a repeat offender, but he’s not. He’s been with us for 18 months and he doesn’t have any history.”

Kadri has struggled in the latter part of 2021. He has just two goals in his last 29 games and lost his place on the top power-play unit. But make no mistake, Kadri is a vital piece of this team. Especially in the playoffs, where he thrived in 2020 and is one of Colorado’s more physical forwards.

If there was any silver lining from his suspension, it’s that it created an opportunity for the younger centermen to step up. And not long after his suspension was announced, rookie center Alex Newhook scored his first career goal, the eventual game-winner, to make it 2-0. That was followed by a goal from third-line center Tyson Jost — his first of the playoffs.

J.T. Compher centered the second line in Kadri’s place Friday. And he had the empty-net goal.

The Deen’s List:

Depth carries the load

None of the Avalanche’s five goals came from the top line of Nathan MacKinnon, Gabe Landeskog, Mikko Rantanen, or second-line wingers Joonas Donskoi and Andre Burakovsky. Those five led the Avs in regular-season goals. Cale Makar also did not score.
Instead, the five different goal scorers were defenseman Ryan Graves, forward Brandon Saad, and the aforementioned centermen in Newhook, Jost and Compher.
St. Louis won the Cup in 2019 by relying on a deep lineup. Colorado is doing that right now. But it also has higher-end talent leading the way that the Blues did not have.

First career goal

Not many could say their first career NHL goal was a game-winning goal in the third game of a series that could put your team up 3-0. Newhook can.

The 20-year-old capitalized on a loose puck off the rebound of a shot from Graves and put it into the open net. Newhook played 8:32, the most ice time he’s seen in the playoffs.

“That was a big point in the game so I was happy to put that home and give us a two-goal lead,” hNewhook said.

Birthday boy

Graves is going to remember this night for a long time as well. Celebrating his 26th birthday, the big, stay-at-home defenseman scored the opening goal on a breakaway and added two assists.

“I don’t remember the last time I had a hockey game on my birthday,” Graves said.

His opening goal was every hockey player’s dream. Graves was in the box serving a roughing minor that began late in the first period. Just as he stepped out of the box, he went in on a breakaway and beat goalie Jordan Binnington to the puck and shot it towards the open net. Binnington got a piece of it but it still found the back of the net to open the scoring.

Happy birthday, Ryan.

Complete the sweep

The Avalanche have an opportunity to complete the sweep in Sunday’s matinee matchup. And if history has taught us anything, it’s that a sweep in the Stanley Cup playoffs for this club leads to winning hockey’s holy grail.

Colorado has swept a four-game series just twice in its 25-year history. In 1996, the Avs defeated the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final in four games. And five years later, the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Avalanche opened the 2001 playoffs by ousting the Vancouver Canucks in four games before going on to win its second Stanley Cup.

Something about that 2001 season sounds all too familiar. Let’s see if this version of the Avs can continue to mimic the last Cup-winning team.

Another quietly strong game from Grubauer

Someway, somehow, Avs goalie Philipp Grubauer has barely been talked about in any of the Avalanche’s three wins. Despite surrendering just five goals and holding a .944 save-percentage, Grubauer has often been an afterthought to Colorado’s high-flying offense or physicality from Landeskog. And obviously, Kadri’s suspension.

Grubauer once again took a backseat to Newhook, Graves and others on Friday. He made 31 saves, including 16 in the second period. The game was scoreless after 20 minutes and St. Louis outshot the Avs 17-12 in that middle period. But Colorado had the first three goals and entered the third up 3-1. And it was partly thanks to Grubauer.

“It’s been the story of our year he’s been playing well all year,” Graves said of Grubauer. “He’s been our best player a lot of nights. There are nights that Nate takes over or Mikko takes over. But there are a lot of nights that Grubi is really good and you just don’t notice that he’s been so good in net. He just makes saves look effortless. Time and time again he bails us out when we make mistakes.”