Blues overcome 3-goal hole to win
St. Louis forces a Game 6 vs. Avs
DENVER — Tyler Bozak scored 3:38 into overtime and the St. Louis Blues fended off elimination in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals, overcoming a three-goal deficit in a 5-4 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night.
Bozak unleashed a shot from near the blueline that got past Darcy Kuemper, capping the comeback.
Robert Thomas had two goals, including the tying tally with 56 seconds left in regulation, for a resilient Blues team. Vladimir Tarasenko and Justin Faulk also scored, Nick Leddy had four assists and Pavel Buchnevich had two.
The comeback offset a hat trick from Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon, who looked like he might have just turned in a signature moment with goal No. 3. He went end-to-end, working his way around Blues defenseman Leddy with nifty stick work and lifting a shot over goaltender Ville Husso for a 4-3 lead. It was his second career postseason hat trick.
Thomas tied it up with Husso on the bench for an extra skater, setting the stage for Bozak.
Game 6 is Friday in St. Louis.
Thursday
RANGERS at HURRICANES: Carolina has been perfect at home in the playoffs. It had to be.
The Hurricanes are back in Raleigh for Thursday night’s Game 5 against the New York Rangers (5 p.m, ESPN), 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 on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden that allowed the Rangers to even their second-round series at 2-2.
That only shrinks the margin for error as the series wears on.
“It’s a best-of-three series now and we’ve been in this position before,” defenseman Brett Pesce said. “We should have the confidence to pull it out.”
OILERS at FLAMES: The Battle of Alberta opened with Edmonton unable to keep up with Calgary in a 15-goal frenzy. Now the Oilers are up 3-1 and a win from the Western finals (Thursday, 7:30 p.m., ESPN).
The Oilers have won three straight since the 9-6 road loss in Game 1 under interim coach Jay Woodcroft, who went from leading the team’s American Hockey League affiliate to replacing the fired Dave Tippett in February for a team sitting six points outside the playoff race.
“He’s brought a lot of energy and a lot of passion to the job,” said Connor McDavid, who has a league-best 25 points in 11 postseason games. “We fed off that.”
A Game 5 win on Thursday would send the Oilers to the Western finals for the first time since 2006.