ST. LOUIS – Arthur Lekanen scored twice, Darcy Kumper stopped 29 shots and Colorado Avalanche beat the St. Louis Blues 5-2 in the 3rd game of their second round series on Saturday night.
Logan O’Connor, Nazem Kadri and Gabriel Landscag also scored as Avalanche and increased the lead to 2-1 in a series of top seven. Colorado improved to 3-0 away in the offseason.
Ryan O’Reilly scored and assisted, while Coltan Paraika scored for the Blues. Jordan Binington started at St. Louis and made three saves before leaving the game at 6:45 in the first period after defender Kadri and Blues Cala Rosen collided with him after their skates became entangled in the crease. No penalty was awarded in the play.
Ville Husso stopped 19 of 23 shots in Binington’s result to drop to 1-3 in the playoffs.
Game 4 on Monday night in St. Louis.
Parayka scored his second goal of the postseason from 3:55 and put St. Louis ahead 1-0.
Advertising
At 11:54 O’Connor tied the score, and Kadri followed second in the post-season when he repulsed Kayla Makar’s shot past Huso immediately after Pavel Buchnevich had finished serving a penalty for the obstacle.
Lehkonen scored his third in the playoffs, bringing Colorado 3-1 from 2:45 to the end of the second period. Nathan McKinnon assisted on goal and gave him points in seven games in a row.
O’Reilly beat off Nick Lady’s seventh post-season goal and pulled out St. Louis in one 29 seconds before the midfield.
Landeskog was ahead of the game when he scored his fifth postseason goal of 2:08, which remained after Husso began rolling off the ice in search of an additional striker.
Lehkonen scored his second of the evening when Husso pulled out for Colorado to increase the score to 5-2 in the final minute.
GIRARD WOUNDED
Avalanche defender Samuel Girard had to help get off the ice after his head crashed into the board on Ivan Barbashev’s check 1:40 in the first period. Girard was expelled due to an upper body injury and was taken to St. Louis Hospital for further evaluation.
Advertising
APARTMENT
O’Reilly has at least one point in seven games in a row. He scored seven goals and four assists in his series
BENCH CABINET
Blues coach Craig Berub coached his 48th playoff game with a franchise that moved Ken Hitchcock to third place in the team’s history.
HALL OF POWER
Former Blues defender and Hockey Hall of Fame Chris Pronger was featured on a video board at the Enterprise Center. Pronger, whose number 44 was fired by the club earlier this season, drank beer to the delight of the crowd, recreating the scene from his retirement ceremony.
___
More NHL AP: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed without permission.
