Avs move to West finals

Avalanche coach Jared Bednar had been looking for a little extra aggressiveness from veteran center Darren Helm.

Helm scored with 5.6 seconds left and Darcy Kuemper stopped 18 shots as the Avalanche finished off their second-round series Friday night with a 3-2 win over the Blues in Game 6 on Friday night to advanced to the Western Conference finals for first time since 2002.

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

The Avs open the series against the Oilers on Tuesday night in Denver.

Miro Heiskanen had a goal and two assists and Finland beat the U.S. 4-3 to set up its third straight world hockey championship final against Canada. Dylan Cozens scored twice in Canada’s 6-1 victory over the Czech Republic in the other semifinal.

Auto racing: Josh Berry outdueled teammate Justin Allgaier to give JR Motorsports its first win at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Xfinity Series race. Berry took the lead with 22 laps to go when Allgaier got loose and brushed the outside wall in Turn 1. Berry pulled away and won by more than 18 seconds while Allgaier finished seventh. Ty Gibbs finished in second.

Cycling: Jai Hindley stormed into the lead of the Giro d’Italia on the fearsome Marmolada with a day left. A mighty mountainous stage was won by Alessandro Covi for his first grand tour victory following a long solo attack.

Golf: Scottie Scheffler held a two-stroke lead after three rounds of the Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas. Scheffler, whose only bogey at Colonial so far this week came at No. 17, shot a 2-under 68 with wind gusts of around 30 mph and temperatures in the upper-90s. Brendon Todd (65) and Scott Stallings (70) were two shots back . ... Stephen Ames shot a 4-under 67 to maintain a two-shot lead after three rounds of the Senior PGA Championship in Benton Harbor, Mich. He’s at 12 under, two strokes ahead of Bernhard Langer and Canadian Mike Weir, who also shot 67s. Paul Goydos was three shots back after a 67 of his own.