Kadri excels amid threats

Nazem Kadri scored three goals, including two during a four-goal second period barrage, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the host St. Louis Blues 6-3 on Monday night to take a 3-1 lead in their Western Conference series.

Kadri’s outburst came after he received racist death threats on social media following a first-period collision with Blues goalie Jordan Binnington in Game 3 on Saturday night.

“Unfortunately, I’ve been dealing with that for a long time,” Kadri said in a TV interview. “That’s sad to say, but that’s just the fact of the matter. ... Just keep moving forward. I know some of those messages I got doesn’t reflect every single fan in St. Louis, but for those that hate, that was for them.”

Kadri, who was booed heavily every time he touched the puck, skated toward the glass and appeared to salute the Blues fans after each of his first two goals, inciting even more jeers. It was his first career playoff hat trick.

Erik Johnson and Devon Toews also scored and Mikko Rantanen added an empty netter for the Avalanche, while Darcy Kuemper made 17 saves.

Kadri gave the Avalanche the lead with his first goal at 4:07 of the second period, and Toews scored 19 seconds later to make it 3-1.

Kadri gave David Perron a late shove a minute later, causing retaliation by Perron and Pavel Buchnevich that landed them both in the box with minor penalties. Colorado did not score on the two-man advantage, but Kadri buried his second goal moments after it ended to make it 4-1.

at Tampa Bay 2, Florida 0: Andrei Vasilevskiy had 49 saves, and the Lightning completed a four-game sweep of the Panthers to return to the Eastern Conference finals for the sixth time in eight years.

Pat Maroon broke a scoreless tie, batting Zach Bogosian’s shot down behind Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky before the puck trickled into the net a little more than six minutes into the third period. Ondrej Palat added an empty-net goal with 22 seconds left.

Vasilevskiy limited the high-scoring Panthers, who averaged an NHL-best 4.11 goals while compiling the league’s best record during the regular season, to three goals in four games. It was his sixth shutout in his last seven series-clinching wins.

“It’s pretty cool to play with a player that I think will go down as one of the best goalies that’s ever played the game,” Tampa Bay forward Alex Killorn said.