CRAIG BERUBE

The Boston Bruins have hired Jim Montgomery as their new coach.

Blues Avalanche Hockey St. Louis Blues center Tyler Bozak, middle, celebrates his overtime goal against the Colorado Avalanche with right wing Alexei Toropchenko in Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup second-round playoff series Wednesday, May 25, 2022, in Denver. Bozak unleashed a shot from near the blueline that got past Darcy Kuemper, capping a remarkable comeback for St. Louis. It's the latest game-tying goal for the Blues when facing elimination, according to NHL Stats. The Blues have rallied from a 3-1 deficit to take a playoff series twice in their history — 1999 against Phoenix and 1991 versus Detroit. “In no way is it acceptable by the St. Louis Blues or anybody else, for him to go through that," Berube said.

Tyler Bozak scored 3:38 into overtime and the St. Louis Blues fended off elimination in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals.

Tyler Bozak and the St. Louis Blues experienced just about every emotion imaginable over the course of a win-or-season-ends game in which they fell behind by three goals. Bozak scored 3:38 into overtime and the Blues fended off elimination in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals, overcoming a pair of deficits in a 5-4 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night. Bozak, a fourth-line center, unleashed a shot from near the blueline that got past Darcy Kuemper, capping a remarkable comeback for St. Louis.

The Florida Panthers are on the brink of getting swept out of the second round of the playoffs by the back-to-back defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning.

Avalanche Blues Hockey Colorado Avalanche goaltender Darcy Kuemper celebrates with teammates Nazem Kadri (91), Erik Johnson (6) and Andrew Cogliano (11) following a 5-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues in Game 3 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup second-round playoff series Saturday, May 21, 2022, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson) (Jeff Roberson)ST. LOUIS — (AP) — Artturi Lehkonen scored twice, Darcy Kuemper stopped 29 shots and the Colorado Avalanche beat the St. Louis Blues 5-2 in Game 3 of their second-round series Saturday night. Logan O'Connor, Nazem Kadri and Gabriel Landeskog also scored as the Avalanche to a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Lehkonen scored his second of the night with Husso pulled to put Colorado up 5-2 in the final minute. Girard was ruled out with an upper body injury and was transported to a St. Louis area hospital for further evaluation.

Artturi Lehkonen scored twice, Darcy Kuemper stopped 29 shots and the Colorado Avalanche beat the St. Louis Blues 5-2 in Game 3 of their second-round series.

David Perron scored twice, Jordan Binnington made 30 saves and the St. Louis Blues beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-1 to tie their second-round series at a game apiece.

The New York Rangers will play the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round of the NHL playoffs.

Wild Blues Hockey St. Louis Blues' Jordan Kyrou (25) celebrates after scoring a goal during the second period in Game 4 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup first-round playoff series against the Minnesota Wild, Sunday, May 8, 2022, in St. Louis. Binnington made 28 saves and the Blues beat the Minnesota Wild 5-2 on Sunday to even the best-of-seven Western Conference series at two games apiece. Perron also had an assist for St. Louis. Game 5 is Tuesday night at St. Paul, Minnesota, before returning to St. Louis for Game 6 on Thursday. St. Louis struck first when Kyrou pounced on his own rebound just 4:19 into the game.

Jordan Kyrou and David Perron each scored twice, Jordan Binnington made 28 saves in his first start this postseason and the St. Louis Blues beat the Minnesota Wild 5-2 to even the best-of-seven Western Conference series at 2-2.

The NHL playoffs are missing the close games and comebacks that seemingly comes annually with all the postseason intensity.

The physicality of the NHL playoffs is creeping into the crease.

Sidney Crosby and Evan Rodrigues scored 12 seconds apart in the third period, and the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied past the St. Louis Blues 5-3.

The Florida Panthers were undeterred — again. Sam Reinhart and Anton Lundell scored in a shootout, and the Panthers continued their string of comebacks by rallying to beat the St. Louis Blues 4-3 on Saturday. Ville Husso made a career-best 48 saves for the Blues, who got goals from Brandon Saad, Logan Brown and Jake Walman. O'Reilly had two assists for St. Louis. UP NEXTThe teams play again in St. Louis on Tuesday.

Sam Reinhart and Anton Lundell scored in a shootout, and the Florida Panthers continued their string of comebacks by rallying from three one-goal deficits to beat the St. Louis Blues 4-3.

The NHL has cleared the St. Louis Blues and Vegas Golden Knights after virus testing errors.

Sharks general manager Doug Wilson formally retained Boughner as San Jose's coach Tuesday, removing the interim tag to make him the ninth full-time head coach in franchise history. He’s very open-minded in looking to find solutions.”Boughner also hired Rocky Thompson as his associate coach and John Madden as an assistant coach. Mike Ricci, the former Sharks forward who became an assistant under Boughner, will be an NHL development coach. Thompson succeeded Boughner as the head coach at Windsor in 2015, and he won the Memorial Cup in 2017. He spent the past three seasons as head coach of the AHL's Cleveland Monsters, Columbus' top affiliate.

In a unique situation like this, youre going from not playing to playing playoff-style hockey, so youve got to embrace the grind mentally, physically.This is a different kind of grind after four-plus months off the ice. Eddie Olczyk won and lost one best-of-five series early in his playing career with Chicago and remembers the nerves of being 18 and 19 years old in those moments. Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour understands that urgency despite being drafted two years after the NHL moved to all best-of-seven series. His Hurricanes face the Rangers, whose president, John Davidson, won the only two best-of-five series he played in with New York. In a short series, Quenneville said, anything can happen.___AP Hockey Writer John Wawrow contributed to this report.