DENVER — Inside a quiet elevator in a silenced arena, the doors opened to reveal the biggest Blues fan there is.
Tom Stillman, hockey-loving chairman of the Blues, stepped into a Ball Arena elevator to go down to ice level, where it had just happened.
It, of course, being the impossible.
“That was hard on the heart,” Stillman said. “But it showed the team has a lot of heart.”
Even before puck-drop, it was hard to believe the Blues would win this game. After their embarrassing showing in Game 4 at home, Game 5 at Ball Arena was supposed to be a Colorado coronation — finally, the Avs would return to the conference final for the first time since 2002.
Then consider that down 3-1 in the best-of-seven series, the Blues were down 3-0 in Game 5’s second period.
It was over. This column would be an obituary.
And now, suddenly, inexplicably, the Blues are back in this series. What they showed out there wasn’t just simply grit and grind — this was something at another level of perseverance, something you can’t coach or teach or preach. Something that certain teams just have in them, while others don’t.
With 2:46 left in Game 5, after the Blues had battled back to tie, the Avs scored. The home team led 4-3. The fans sang the merry song “All The Small Things,” as they do here late in likely wins.
“Yeah, it’s tough (at that moment),” Blues coach Craig Berube said. “We battle back and then we give up that goal like that. It could be really deflating, but our team has got a lot of guts and they’re a resilient bunch of guys. I thought they were positive. We talked about what we were going to do with the goalie and stuff and it ended up working out.”
And then, Robert Thomas — who had been the biggest question mark of the Blues’ postseason — turned it into an exclamation point. His goal tied the game with 56 seconds left.
And then, perhaps you heard, Tyler Bozak scored the winner in overtime. The season-saver.
The Blues won 5-4, and now one wonders just what the impact of this playoff win will be.
It could be like the Cardinals in 2011, when they won Game 6 of the World Series and closed things out in Game 7.
Or it could be like the Cardinals in 2005, when homering Albert Pujols stunned the road crowd in Houston and it seemed as of the Astros never would win again — and the Astros won the very next game to win the pennant.
In order to keep the Avalanche from being the Astros, the Blues will have to play their best period in the first period Friday in Game 6. Come out with the mindset of demoralizing the opposition.
The Avs already are a precarious group, a team that annually falters prematurely in the playoffs. This was their series to win. And now, some wonder if they’ll win again.
But for now, St. Louis will revel in Game 5.
The Blues were done. Done! Now, with new life, anything is possible.
Credit Ville Husso. The Blues netminder was soft in Game 4 in St. Louis. And he struggled early Wednesday here in Denver. But the goalie, a free agent this summer, started making saves that made him the starter this year. He was acrobatic in the third period, commanding the goal line. He made a couple saves in overtime, too.
And how about the contributions of Thomas, sure, but Nick Leddy? Three assists. And Bozak, who seldom played but made the play of the game. And Robert Bortuzzo, who blocked a likely goal in overtime. And Colton Parayko, who played valiantly like in the days of 2019, when he was the blueline stud for the resilient Cup champs.
And for a night the team sure looked like that team again.
Game 5 in Colorado. We’ll remember it, sure.
But it won’t truly matter unless there are two more victories.
And suddenly, it seems like it could actually happen.
With the win, the Blues will now get to do something St. Louis loves to do — host a Game 6. Imagine the noise!
Most folks didn’t think we’d be back at Enterprise Center this season. But the Blues have a new life now and this sudden crazy confidence. The Avs will have to go back into St. Louis and try to win for a third time. That’s hard to do.
And if St. Louis is to win Game 6 back home, you’d have to think the Avalanche will be in their own heads. By that point, the Avs would’ve blown a 3-0 lead in a Game 5 and a 3-1 series lead. Colorado, seemingly haunted by postseason failure, would have to go home to win a Game 7 or face the wrath.
