ST. LOUIS – Colorado coach Jared Bednar had been looking for a little more aggression from veteran center Darren Helm.
Bednar fulfilled his wish on Friday night.
Helm scored with 5.6 seconds left and Darcy Kuemper stopped 18 shots when the Avalanche finished its second-round series with a 3-2 victory over the St. Johns. Louis Blues at the game 6 Friday night.
“We wanted him to be assertive and not so confident,” Bednar said.
JT Compher scored two goals for Colorado, which advanced to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2002. The Avalanche had been eliminated in the second round each of the past three years.
Colorado opens the series against Edmonton on Tuesday night in Denver.
Jordan Kyrou and Justin Faulk scored for St. Louis. and Ville Husso made 36 stops.
In the winning goal, Helm, 35, fired a shot from the opposing circle that went over Husso’s glove.
“We had three guys going strong on the net,” Helm said. “He was just behind. The pass bounced against the side wall. He just wanted to put the puck on the net and found his way.”
It was the second goal of the series for Helm. As a member of the Detroit Red Wings, he won the Western Conference championship with a goal in overtime in the fifth game against Chicago, exactly 13 years ago.
“No other guy deserves as much as he does,” Colorado striker Gabriel Landeskog said. “You talk about his work ethic, but he’s the guy who comes to the track with a smile on his face, he gets along well with everyone.”
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 record in the series.
“A super clutch goal,” Kuemper said. “It’s always fun to see someone like Darren, who plays the game so hard, (but) it’s not always rewarded with points, to come up with a great goal like this is really special.”
Compher, who had gone goalless during the first nine games of the Avalanche in the playoffs, broke away at the perfect moment. He threw himself on the rebound from a Josh Manson shot to tie the score at 1-1 early in the second period. Then Compher tied the score at 2-2 with a wrist shot from the point of view with 9:41 left in the third.
Husso, who has scored 13 goals in 93 shots in the previous three games, came back with a much stronger effort.
Colorado dominated the game for long stretches, but could not resolve Husso, who regained his job after Jordan Binnington fell with a lower body injury in Game 3. Husso stole Nazem Kadri from close range. early third period.
Husso had a 37-yard touchdown run in the first game win over Minnesota in the first round.
Faulk scored from the end of the first period with a wrist shot from between the circles. He sailed into the slot before receiving a pass from Robert Thomas. The unit touched Kuemper’s arm. It was Faulk’s first goal of the postseason after seven assists.
Kyrou also missed the net in a breakaway in the second period and had fired from close range stopped by Manson in the game’s defensive game after Kuemper was out of position.
Kyrou then converted with a 2 to 1 with a pass from Brayden Schenn to put the Blues up 2-1 at 9:34 of the second period.
“We feel like we’re a good team and let this series pass,” Schenn said.
The coach of St. Louis, Craig Berube, added: “It’s tough, a hard way to finish it. That’s how it goes. Our guys fight a lot.”
The Blues forced a 5-game win over Colorado 5-4 in overtime on Wednesday with a goal from Tyler Bozak.
The Avalanche recovered from that setback with an impressive effort.
“Since the fall of the record, we were ready to leave,” Bednar said. “It could be said that there was a belief.”