Blues rally for Game 5 OT win
St. Louis holds on; series is now 3-2
On eight occasions this season, the St. Louis Blues put together winning streaks of three games or more. They won five in a row to start the season and won nine in a row in April.
Well, they need one more three-game streak to keep their season alive, and got a start in that direction Wednesday with a 5-4 overtime victory against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena in Denver. The oldest Blue, Tyler Bozak, scored the game-winner at 3:38 of overtime as St. Louis rallied from a 3-0 deficit.
With Game 6 of the second-round playoff series set for Friday in St. Louis, Colorado still leads the series three games to two. So the Blues still need to win the next two or call it a season.
During the regular season, the Avalanche tied for the NHL’s best home record at 32-5. But the Blues have now won two of three games here in the postseason.
Coach Craig Berube stuck with Ville Husso in goal, but after seven consecutive games using 11 forwards and seven defensemen he switched to the traditional 12/6 lineup. Nathan Walker, not seen since Game 2 of the Minnesota series, returned to action as the 12th forward.
Notes
The Carolina Hurricanes have been perfect at home in the Stanley Cup playoffs. They’ve had to be. The Hurricanes are back in Raleigh, N.C., for Thursday night’s Game 5 against the New York Rangers, looking once again to climb into the lead of a playoff series with the support of a rowdy home crowd. That’s because they have lost every road game, the latest coming Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden that allowed the Rangers to even their second-round series.
“It’s a best-of-3 series now and we’ve been in this position before,” defenseman Brett Pesce said. “We should have the confidence to pull it out.”
• Washington Capitals right winger Tom Wilson is expected to miss six to eight months after undergoing surgery to reconstruct the torn ACL in his left knee. The team announced that Wilson had a successful ACL replacement procedure a day earlier. The long rehabilitation time frame means Wilson is on track to miss at least the first month of the season, if not more.