If you blinked and missed it, the Canucks and Blues are all tied up at two after St. Louis wins on back-to-back nights. It’s set up what’s going to be a crucial Game 5 between the young, flying Canucks and seemingly woken-up Blues.

The focus of this series has shifted to goalie Jake Allen, who came in and replaced Jordan Binnington and Game 3 and has gone on to stop 61 of 64 pucks thrown at him. It’ll be Allen’s crease for Game 5, a contest that the NHL odds board has St. Louis listed as a -145 favourite.

Canucks vs. Blues Stanley Cup Odds

Special teams was a key difference through three games in this series, but in Game 4 it was St. Louis stepping up for the first time. The Blues, who ranked dead last in the postseason in team penalty-killing going into Game 4, drastically shifted their play shorthanded and killed off all seven Vancouver powerplays Monday.

Then on the other end it was reigning Conn Smythe winner Ryan O’Reilly coming through with a three-point night, scoring his second and third postseason goals in the win.

As for injury news, Blues’ forward Vladimir Tarasenko has returned to St. Louis to meet with doctors regarding his surgically-repaired shoulder and will miss the remainder of the series.

Vancouver Canucks

The Canucks picked the wrong time to go cold on offence, scoring just three goals in their last two losses.

If there’s a positive for Vancouver, it’s that Jacob Markstrom has continued his elite play in net. Despite dropping both games, Markstrom turned back 80 of 86 shots and still owns a .927 save percentage this postseason.

Game 4 was the first since Game 1 of their Minnesota series that Ellias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes, and J.T. Miller were held without a point. With the biggest game of Pettersson’s and Hughes’ careers approaching, the Canucks big guns will need to step up on the score sheet.

St. Louis Blues

After dropping their first five postseason games, the Blues have battled through some more adversity. Craig Berube’s club has amped up their physicality and tightened up defensively and it’s resulted in back-to-back wins.

Led by O’Reilly, the Blues are getting production out of their leaders. David Perron added another two assists in Game 4, while captain Alex Pietrangelo recorded a goal and an assist Monday.

St. Louis is dictating the pace to their liking recently — the under has hit in seven of their last 10.

NHL Prediction: Who Will Win Canucks vs. Blues?

CANUCKS

Away

2

BLUES

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