{"id":40190,"date":"2022-06-07T18:13:20","date_gmt":"2022-06-08T00:13:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/avalanche-sweep-oilers-advance-to-stanley-cup-final\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:54:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:54:13","slug":"avalanche-sweep-oilers-advance-to-stanley-cup-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/avalanche-sweep-oilers-advance-to-stanley-cup-final\/","title":{"rendered":"Avalanche sweep Oilers, advance to Stanley Cup Final"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Colorado
Colorado Avalanche's Nathan MacKinnon (29) and Gabriel Landeskog (92) celebrate a goal on Edmonton Oilers goalie Mike Smith (41) as Cody Ceci (5) defends during third period NHL hockey conference finals action in Edmonton, Alberta, on Monday, June 6, 2022. (Jason Franson\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/span>Jason Franson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

EDMONTON, Alberta \u2013 Artturi Lehkonen is sending a team to the Stanley Cup Final for the second straight season.<\/p>\n

Lehkonen scored 1-19 into overtime, and Colorado rallied to beat the Edmonton Oilers 6-5 Monday night, completing a four-game sweep in the Western Conference final and propelling the Avalanche into the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2001.<\/p>\n

Colorado will take on the winner of the Eastern Conference final between the New York Rangers and two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning. The Rangers lead that best-of-seven series 2-1. Game 4 is Tuesday at Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n

Lehkonen repeated his feat of last season, when he scored in OT in Game 6 to send the Montreal Canadiens to the final against eventual repeat champion Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n

\u201cCale (Makar) took the shot,\u201d Lehkonen said. \u201cI got a tip on it. It landed straight on my blade. I basically had an empty netter in front of me, so tap it in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lehkonen becomes the second player in NHL history, and first in 83 years, to score an overtime goal to send his club into the championship series more than once in his career. Toronto\u2019s Gordie Drillon accomplished the feat in 1938-39.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody knows how good he is, how resilient he is,\u201d Mikko Rantanen said of fellow Finn Lehkonen, acquired by Colorado at the trade deadline. \u201cHe checks, he defends hard, he kills penalties, plays on the power play, he scores big goals, goes to the hard areas. What else can you ask for from a player \u2014 a trade acquisition. It\u2019s fun to watch, and I\u2019m really happy that we got him, and he\u2019s shown why we gave quite a bit for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Colorado
Colorado Avalanche's Gabriel Landeskog (92), Artturi Lehkonen (62), Mikko Rantanen (96) and Nathan MacKinnon (29) celebrate a goal against the Edmonton Oilers during third period NHL hockey conference finals action in Edmonton, Alberta, on Monday, June 6, 2022. (Jason Franson\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/span>Jason Franson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Cale Makar, Devon Toews Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Rantanen also scored for Colorado. Pavel Francouz stopped 30 of 35 shots.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur main thing is just trying to be resilient, making sure that every single night we bring that same game,\u201d Makar said. \u201cSometimes it might not be pretty, but at the end of the day we\u2019re just going to try to get the job done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zach Hyman scored twice for the Oilers. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Connor McDavid and Zack Kassian also scored for Edmonton. Leon Draisaitl had four assists and goalie Mike Smith finished with 36 saves.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think anyone necessarily expected us to be here,\u201d Draisaitl said. \u201cWith that being said, we expected to be here, we want to be here and we want to be even further. I\u2019m proud of the group, but obviously we\u2019re disappointed.\u201d<\/p>\n

McDavid sees the Oilers\u2019 playoff run as move in the right direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like it\u2019s steps,\u201d McDavid said. \u201c Every team goes through it. You become a playoff team, then you get there most years and they go on a little bit of a run. They learn that lesson and then it\u2019s their time to win. You look at a Colorado team that has been in that situation many, many times and obviously they are knocking on the door right now. This is a step in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Colorado
Colorado Avalanche's Devon Toews (7) is checked by Edmonton Oilers' Leon Draisaitl (29) during second period NHL hockey conference finals action in Edmonton, Alberta, on Monday, June 6, 2022. (Jason Franson\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/span>Jason Franson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The teams combined for six goals in the third period \u2014 four by Colorado, which rallied from a 4-2 deficit despite being outshot 15-13.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great comeback win, for sure,\u201d Lehkonen said. \u201cWe were talking in the second intermission that we just got to find our game and we can pull through this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rantanen appeared to complete Colorado\u2019s comeback, scoring a power-play goal with just over five minutes remaining to give the Avalanche a 5-4 edge.<\/p>\n

But the Oilers stormed back and forced overtime when Kassian scored at 16:38 and tied it at 5-all. Lehkonen scored 1:19 into overtime, a goal that stood up after review for a high stick.<\/p>\n

The Avalanche improved to 11-2 in the playoffs, including a perfect 7-0 on the road. Only six other teams in NHL history have strung together at least seven consecutive road victories in a post-season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve waited a long time to have an opportunity to have a chance to play for a Cup,\u201d veteran defenseman Erik Johnson said. \u201cI saw the puck in, I was just so happy that it went in and we advanced and now we get a chance to go for the Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colorado opened the scoring at 3:46 on a power play when Lehkonen stole the puck from Hyman and fed Makar before firing a shot through traffic and in off Smith\u2019s left post for his fifth goal of the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Trailing 1-0 after the first period, the Oilers got going at 7:39 of the second when Hyman took a pass from Draisaitl off the rush and beat Francouz with a backhand past the glove for his 10th goal of the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Nugent-Hopkins gave Edmonton its first lead at 16:57 when Toews and MacKinnon got their signals crossed. The Oilers center jumped on the turnover and beat Francouz on another backhand move \u2014 this time to the blocker side \u2014 with his sixth as Draisaitl, playing with an injured leg, was getting treatment after hobbling to the bench.<\/p>\n

Colorado rookie Alex Newhook was whistled for delay of game for shooting the puck over the glass late in the period, and Edmonton made the visitors pay when McDavid scored his 10th goal of the postseason, and 31st point, beating Francouz off another Draisaitl feed for a 3-1 lead with 1:06 left in the period.<\/p>\n

McDavid and Draisaitl are the eighth pair of teammates in NHL history to each record 30 points in a playoff.<\/p>\n

Colorado got one back 31 seconds into the third when Toews\u2019 shot hit Oilers defenseman Cody Ceci in front as he was battling with MacKinnon. It was Toews\u2019 fifth.<\/p>\n

Hyman scored his second of the night and 11th overall on a 4-on-2 rush, sending a knuckling shot off a Draisaitl set-up past Francouz at 3:55 for a 4-2 lead.<\/p>\n

Landeskog got Colorado back within one at 8:58 on a mad scramble in front after Smith turned the puck over.<\/p>\n

Edmonton got a power play with under nine minutes to go looking to go back up by two, but Draisaitl\u2019s shot off the side of Francouz\u2019s goal was as close as the Oilers would get.<\/p>\n

MacKinnon tied it with his 11th on a high shot Smith with 6:30 left in regulation, setting the stage for Rantanen\u2019s go-ahead goal, his fifth of the playoffs.<\/p>\n

But Kassian scored his second, firing home a puck in the crease after Draisaitl\u2019s initial shot with 3:22 left.<\/p>\n

Colorado got past the Oilers in four straight despite losing No. 1 goalie Darcy Kuemper and winger Andre Burakovsky to injury in Game 1, before Kadri went down Saturday. Kuemper returned to serve as the Francouz\u2019s backup Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re playing hockey on June 6th. In order to accomplish that, you\u2019ve done some good things and I don\u2019t think we can lose sight of that, but there\u2019s a lot more required in order to find a way to get the Stanley Cup Final,\u201d Edmonton coach Jay Woodcroft said.<\/p>\n

NOTES: The Colorado Avalanche were without the injured Nazem Kadri. Kadri was hurt on an illegal hit by Edmonton\u2019s Evander Kane in Game 3. Kadri didn\u2019t return after Kane sent him crashing left arm-first into the boards 1:06 in, a hit that was reviewed and called a major penalty. Kane was suspended for Game 4 by the NHL. The Avalanche have not revealed what Kadri\u2019s injury is or announced how long he\u2019d be out. \u2026 The Oilers were also minus second-line winger Kailer Yamamoto for a third straight contest after he took a hit from Gabriel Landeskog in Game 2. \u2026 The Oilers were looking to become just the fifth team in league history to win a series after falling behind 3-0.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

More AP NHL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nhl and https:\/\/twitter.com\/AP_Sports<\/p>\n

\"Colorado
Colorado Avalanche's Bowen Byram (4) and Edmonton Oilers' Warren Foegele (37) battle for the puck during second period NHL hockey conference finals action in Edmonton, Alberta, on Monday, June 6, 2022. (Jason Franson\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/span>Jason Franson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Colorado
Colorado Avalanche goalie Pavel Francouz (39) lets in a goal by Edmonton Oilers' Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) during second period NHL playoff hockey action in Edmonton, Alberta, Monday, June 6, 2022. (Amber Bracken\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/span>Amber Bracken<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Colorado
Colorado Avalanche goalie Pavel Francouz (39) is scored on by Edmonton Oilers' Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) during second period NHL hockey conference finals action in Edmonton, Alberta, on Monday, June 6, 2022. (Jason Franson\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/span>Jason Franson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Colorado will face New York or Tampa Bay in its first final since 2001<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[2545,28,1210,346],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-40190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado-avalanche","tag-headlines","tag-ice-hockey","tag-sports"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40190"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84575,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40190\/revisions\/84575"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40190"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=40190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}