Blues triumph to move on

Jordan Binnington made 25 saves and the host St. Louis Blues beat the Minnesota Wild 5-1 on Thursday in Game 6 to advance to the second round of the Western Conference playoffs.

Ryan O’Reilly, Tyler Bozak and Vladimir Tarasenko scored in a dominant second period during which the Blues outshot the Wild 22-5 and took control.

Nick Leddy also scored, Colton Parayko added an empty-netter and David Perron had two assists as St. Louis won its first series since defeating Boston in the Cup Final in 2019.

The Blues will travel to Colorado to face the Avalanche in Game 1 of the second round.

at Boston 5, Carolina 2:

Brad Marchand scored one goal and assisted on another, and Jeremy Swayman stopped 23 shots to lead the Bruins past the Hurricanes and send their first-round playoff series to a decisive seventh game.

at Tampa Bay 4, Toronto 3 (OT):

Brayden Point scored on a rebound with 1:56 remaining in the first overtime as the Lightning prevailed to force a Game 7 in the first-round playoff series. The Leafs, who’ve been eliminated in the first round each of the last five seasons, are 0-for-their-last-eight in closeout games.