Avs score in final seconds, oust Blues
NYR looks to stay alive vs. Carolina
ST. LOUIS — Darren Helm scored with 5.6 seconds left and Darcy Kuemper stopped 17 shots as the Colorado Avalanche finished off their secondround series with a 3-2 win over the St. Louis Blues in Game 6 on Friday night.
J.T. Compher scored twice for Colorado, which advanced to the Western Conference finals for first time since 2002. The Avalanche had been eliminated in the second round each of the past three years.
Colorado opens the series against Edmonton on Tuesday night in Denver.
Jordan Kyrou and Justin Faulk scored for St. Louis. and Ville Husso made 36 saves.
On the winning goal, Helm scored off a drive from the faceoff circle.
Compher, who had been held scoreless over the Avalanche’s first nine games of the playoffs, broke free at the perfect time.
He pounced on the rebound of a shot from Josh Manson to tie the score 1-1 early in the second period. Compher then tied it 2-2 on a wrist shot from the faceoff dot with 9:41 left in the third.
Husso, who gave up 13 goals on 93 shots over the previous three games, rebounded with a much stronger effort.
Colorado dominated play for long stretches, but could not solve Husso, who regained his job after Jordan Binnington went down with a lower body injury in Game 3. Husso robbed Nazem Kadri from close range early in the third period.
Husso had a 37-save shutout in a Game 1 win over Minnesota in the first round.
Saturday
HURRICANES at RANGERS: The New York Rangers return home knowing they need a win to keep their postseason going. The Carolina Hurricanes are still looking for their first road victory in these playoffs.
After Carolina won 3-1 on Thursday night to take a 3-2 series lead, the Rangers will be looking to force a deciding game in the secondround series when they host the Hurricanes in Game 6 (6 p.m. MDT, ESPN).
“We lost a game and we didn’t play as well as we could have, so I was disappointed,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said Friday. “That’s playoffs, that’s the way she goes. We’ll be ready to go tomorrow night and that’s what we’re looking forward to.”
A must-win game is nothing new for these Rangers. They trailed 3-1 against Pittsburgh in the first round, then won three straight — becoming the first team in NHL history to rally from a deficit in three consecutive elimination games — to advance.