Avs strike in final seconds to eliminate Blues
ST. LOUIS — Colorado coach Jared Bednar had been looking for extra aggressiveness from veteran center Darren Helm. Bednar got his wish Friday.
Helm scored with 5.6 seconds left to back Darcy Kuemper, who stopped 18 shots, as the Avalanche finished their second-round series with a 3-2 win over St. Louis in Game 6 on Friday.
“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 first time since 2002. The Avs had been eliminated in the second round each of the past three years.
Colorado opens the series against Edmonton on Tuesday in Denver.
Jordan Kyrou and Justin Faulk scored for St. Louis, and Ville Husso had 36 saves.
On the winning goal, the 35-year-old Helm blasted a shot from the faceoff circle that went over the Husso’s glove.
“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 series-clinching goal for Helm. While with Detroit, he nailed down the Western Conference title 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 left wing 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. He also enjoyed watching Helm record the biggest tally of the series.
“A super-clutch goal,” Kuemper said. “It’s always fun to see someone like Darren, who plays the game so hard (but) always doesn’t get rewarded with the points — to come up with a big goal like that is really special.”