MIKKO RANTANEN

Josh Manson scored 8:02 into overtime, Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves in his return to the net from an eye injury, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the St. Louis Blues 3-2 in Game 1 of their second-round series.

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

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Nathan MacKinnon scored two goals and the Colorado Avalanche clinched a playoff spot with a 6-4 win against the Pittsburgh Penguin.

Alex Galchenyuk was the only scorer in the shootout and the Arizona Coyotes rallied to beat Colorado 3-2, snapping the Avalanche’s 18-game home winning streak.

Nazem Kadri and Mikko Rantanen scored, Pavel Francouz made 23 saves for his third career shutout and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Chicago Blackhawks 2-0 to extend their franchise-record home winning streak to 16 games.

Logan O’Connor scored twice in a 22-second span in a five-goal second period, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Rangers 7-3, ending New York’s seven-game winning streak.

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Jonathan Marchessault, Max Pacioretty and William Karlsson came through with timely goals for the Vegas Golden Knights in their 4-2 series win over Colorado.

Alex Pietrangelo scored his first goal of the postseason to break a tie and the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Colorado Avalanche 6-3 in Game 6 to advance to the Stanley Cup semifinals.

Mark Stone scored on a breakaway 50 seconds into overtime as the Vegas Golden Knights overcame a two-goal deficit to beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 and take a 3-2 lead in their second-round playoff series.

Jonathan Marchessault and Max Pacioretty scored 45 seconds apart in the third period to lift the Vegas Golden Knights to a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche in Game 3 of their second-round playoff series.

Mikko Rantanen scored a power-play goal 2:07 into overtime, Philipp Grubauer outdueled fellow Vezina Trophy finalist Marc-Andre Fleury and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 to take a 2-0 lead in their second-round playoff series.

Mikko Rantanen found himself in the middle of an on-ice swarm from teammates after scoring the winner. Wonderful and all, but he wanted to make sure the real star of the show received his fair share of the credit, too — goaltender Philipp Grubauer. Rantanen scored a power-play goal 2:07 into overtime, Grubauer outdueled fellow Vezina Trophy finalist Marc-Andre Fleury and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 on Wednesday night to take a 2-0 lead in their second-round playoff series.

Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog each scored twice as the well-rested Colorado Avalanche made quick work of Vegas with their speed, beating the Golden Knights 7-1 in a skirmish-filled Game 1 of their second-round playoff series.

Captains are leading the way into the second round of the NHL playoffs.

Philipp Grubauer made 18 saves and Gabriel Landeskog scored the go-ahead goal in the second period to lift Colorado to a series sweep of the St. Louis Blues with a 5-2 win in Game 4 of the West Division series.

Nathan MacKinnon finished his first career playoff hat trick with an empty-net goal to help the Colorado Avalanche pull away late for a 6-3 win over St. Louis in Game 2 after the Blues avoided a pregame virus scare that nearly sidelined several players.

Tyson Jost scored two of Colorado’s five second-period goals as the Avalanche clinched the West Division and the top overall seed in the NHL playoffs with a 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings.

Six Challenger tennis tournaments scheduled for Canada this year have been canceled because of the pandemic.

Colorado Avalanche right wing Joonas Donskoi reacts after scoring a goal against the Arizona Coyotes in the first period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, march 31, 2021, in Denver. Donskoi scored three times during Colorado’s five-goal first period, and the Avalanche beat the Arizona Coyotes 9-3 on Wednesday night in front of a smattering of boisterous fans. “Everybody was fired up and I think we showed it.”Donskoi secured his second career hat trick over a 3:27 span. AdAndre Burakovsky and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare also scored in a wild first period that included Arizona goals by Michael Bunting and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Gabriel Landeskog finished with two goals, Mikko Rantanen added another and Burakovsky scored his second with 3:11 remaining on an assist by Donskoi.

Vegas Golden Knights right wing Alex Tuch (89) races for the puck against the Colorado Avalanche during the first period of of Outdoor Lake Tahoe NHL hockey game at Stateline, Nev., Saturday, Feb. 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli))STATELINE, Nev. – Nathan MacKinnon scored a dazzling goal more than nine hours after assisting on another to highlight a most unusual and lengthy outdoor game at Lake Tahoe that the Colorado Avalanche won 3-2 over the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday. Although it’s fair to say that none of those had the picturesque setting of this rink located on the 18th fairway of a golf course on the shores of Lake Tahoe and surrounded by trees with snow-covered mountains towering in the background. Fleury made 36 saves for Vegas and fell to 0-3 in three career outdoor game starts. AdPART 1The Avs controlled the play under the sun, getting an early goal from Girard and outshooting Vegas 17-8 in the first 20 minutes.

San Jose's Erik Karlsson (65) handles the puck against Minnesota Wild's Nick Bjugstad (27) in the third period of an NHL hockey game Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021, in St. Paul, Minn. San Jose won 5-3. (AP Photo/Stacy Bengs)With an outbreak delaying the Dallas Stars' opener, Rick Bowness got to watch a lot of hockey in the first couple of nights of the NHL season. “It was entertaining hockey, but it was a little sloppy,” Bowness said. “We’re staying in 5-star hotels, get to play hockey, so I can’t complain,” defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic said. Ad___Follow AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SWhyno___More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

FILE - In this Feb. 16, 2019, file photo, St. Louis Blues right wing Vladimir Tarasenko, right, is congratulated as he passes the team box after scoring a goal against the Colorado Avalanche during the third period of an NHL hockey game in Denver. Tarasenko makes his return after early season shoulder surgery that limited him to three goals in 10 games. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

Ditto for St. Louis, the defending Stanley Cup champions. The Blues and Avalanche were navigating through some key injuries before the season was halted in March due to the coronavirus pandemic. The hiatus allowed time to heal and now the top two teams in the Western Conference return as Cup favorites. The two teams get things rolling Sunday in Edmonton by facing each other to kick off a round-robin tournament to determine seeding in the West. It should be a fun ride.Back on the ice for the Blues is forward Vladimir Tarasenko, who underwent shoulder surgery in late October.