Avs oust Blues to advance

AVALANCHE 3 BLUES 2

ST. LOUIS — Colorado coach Jared Bednar had been looking for a little extra aggressiveness from veteran center Darren Helm.

Bednar got his wish on Friday night.

Helm scored with 5.6 seconds left and Darcy Kuemper stopped 18 shots as the Avalanche finished off their second-round series with a 3-2 win over the Blues in Game 6 on Friday night.

“We wanted him to be assertive and not so safe,” Bednar said.

J.T. Compher scored twice for Colorado, which advanced to the Western Conference finals for the 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, the 35-year-old Helm blasted a shot from the faceoff circle that went over the glove of Husso.

“We had three guys going hard to the net,” Helm said. “I was just kind of trailing. The pass bounced off the side wall. I just wanted to get the puck on the net and it found its way.”

It was the second seriesclinching goal for Helm. As a member of the Detroit Red Wings, he nailed down the Western Conference championship with an overtime goal in Game 5 against Chicago, exactly 13 years ago.

“There’s no other guy that deserves it as much as he does,” Colorado forward Gabriel Landeskog said. “You talk about his work ethic, but he’s the guy that comes to the rink with a smile on his face, gets along with everybody.”

Kuemper, who missed part of the first round series against Nashville with an eye injury, improved to 6-2.