*Photo from Colorado Hockey Now*
Colorado wins series 4-2
It was only fitting that a crazy series had an equally crazy ending. JT Compher scored two goals, Darren Helm scored with seconds remaining, and the Colorado Avalanche defeated the St. Louis Blues with a 3-2 victory on Friday night in St. Louis.
With the victory, the Avalanche officially won the second round matchup with the Blues, punching their ticket to the Western Conference Finals, with home ice advantage throughout the remainder of their playoff run. They were driven by a two goal game from Compher, and a buzzer beater from Helm.
Colorado forward Nathan MacKinnon said that "I think you really have to enjoy the journey. That's the most important thing we're going to look back on is the journey of getting to this point. There will only be four teams soon and obviously the job's not finished, but that's a great accomplishment for us."
The only goal of the first period came from Justin Faulk, who made it 1-0 Blues with about a minute to go in the period, assisted by Robert Thomas and Niko Mikkola. In the second period, Compher tied it 5:19 into the second, making it 1-1 with assists from Andre Burakovsky and Josh Manson. Jordan Kyrou then gave the Blues a 2-1 lead after two periods with his 7th goal of the playoffs.
On the power play 10:18 into the 3rd period, Compher scored his second goal of the night and second of the playoffs, tying the game 2-2 with assists from Devon Toews and Bowen Byram. With just 6 seconds left in regulation, Helm provided the game winning goal, making it 3-2 Avalanche in dramatic fashion.
Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said that "I liked the way we were playing. I did. I thought their goalie made some big saves and we couldn't track down a few rebounds. But for us, it was kind of about carrying the play a little bit. Our guys were doing the right things and saying the right things on the bench. You could tell we were up. We score to tie it, they score again, that was a little bit deflating, but our guys bounced back right away with some good shifts."
Getting the start in goal once again was Darcy Kuemper, who had a solid game to win the series. Kuemper stopped 18 of the 20 shots that the Blues sent at him, which was good for a even .900 save percentage in the win.
It was Ville Husso who once again got the start for the Blues, with Jordan Binnington out of commission. In the season ending loss, Husso saved 36 out of the 39 shots on goal the Avalanche had, recording a .923 save percentage.
Blues captain Ryan O'Reilly said that "I thought Huus gave us a chance, he made some huge stops, gave us a chance all game. I thought we started a little slow, which hurt us. That was kind of the feeling that we had all series at home. We didn't play the way we needed to here, which made it difficult to win. Lost every game at home here, just very disappointing."
Up next, the Avalanche move on to the Western Conference Finals, with game one against the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night in Denver. The Blues head home for the offseason, with questions to answer and a run to prepare for next year.
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