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Colorado Avalanche Bounce Back, Beat Blues 5-2 In Game 3

(AP) - Despite regaining the edge in their second-round series, the Colorado Avalanche aren't satisfied.

Artturi Lehkonen scored twice, Darcy Kuemper stopped 29 shots and the Avalanche beat the St. Louis Blues 5-2 in Game 3 on Saturday night to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Colorado Avalanche v St Louis Blues - Game Three
Artturi Lehkonen #62 of the Colorado Avalanche is congratulated after scoring a goal against the St. Louis Blues in Game Three of the Second Round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Enterprise Center on May 21, 2022 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Scott Rovak/NHLI via Getty Images)

Logan O'Connor, Nazem Kadri and Gabriel Landeskog also scored as the Avalanche bounced back from a 4-1 loss at home two nights earlier, and improved to 3-0 on the road in the postseason.

"Of course it was a good answer from the last game," Lehkonen said. "We still know that we can clean up some stuff in our game and we've got to move on to the next one."

Ryan O'Reilly had a goal and an assist, and Colton Parayko also scored for the Blues, who might've lost starting goalie Jordan Binnington.

Colorado Avalanche v St Louis Blues - Game Three
Ryan O'Reilly #90 of the St. Louis Bluesis congratulated after scoring a goal against the Colorado Avalanche in Game Three of the Second Round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Enterprise Center on May 21, 2022 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Scott Rovak/NHLI via Getty Images)

Binnington made three saves before leaving the game 6:45 into the first period after Kadri and Blues defenseman Calle Rosen collided into him after getting their skates tangled up in the crease. No penalty was called on the play.

"Look at Kadri's reputation," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "That's all I've got to say."

The coach added that Binnington was being evaluated for a lower body injury.

"I just see a loose puck, really," Kadri said. "I was just kind of sitting behind him and just tried to poke it with my stick. I think their defenseman kind of collided with me and pushed me into him. Had that not been the case, I don't think I would have hit him at all."

Colorado Avalanche v St Louis Blues - Game Three
Nazem Kadri #91 of the Colorado Avalanche scores a goal against the St. Louis Blues in Game Three of the Second Round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Enterprise Center on May 21, 2022 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Scott Rovak/NHLI via Getty Images)

After the game, while Kadri was being interviewed on television, he said a Blues player threw a water bottle at him and believed it was Binnington.

Ville Husso stopped 19 of 23 shots in relief to fall to 1-3 in the playoffs.

"I think there was a little bit of a momentum swing there," O'Connor said about the Blues changing goaltenders. "I think even before that we felt our game coming a little more. We weathered it early. They were hard on us to begin with, really closing down in the defensive zone. Then we started rolling things over a little more, getting a little more confidence with the puck."

Game 4 is Monday night in St. Louis.

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Parayko scored his second goal of the postseason on a slap shot from the point 3:55 into the game to put St. Louis ahead 1-0.

O'Connor got his first at 11:54 to tie it, and Kadri followed with his second of the postseason when he deflected Cale Makar's slap shot past Husso right after Pavel Buchnevich finished serving an interference penalty.

NHL: MAY 21 Playoffs Round 2 Game 3 - Avalanche at Blues
The puck gets past Colorado Avalanche goaltender Darcy Kuemper (35) and into the net but the goal is waived off as St. Louis Blues left wing Pavel Buchnevich (89) is called for interference when he hit Colorado Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson (42) during Round 2 game 3 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs between the Colorado Avalanche and the St. Louis Blues on May 21, 2022, at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis MO (Photo by Rick Ulreich/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Lehkonen scored his third of the playoffs to put Colorado up 3-1 with 2:45 remaining in the second period. Nathan MacKinnon assisted on the goal to give him points in seven straight postseason games.

O'Reilly tapped in a rebound from Nick Leddy for his seventh goal of the postseason to pull St. Louis within one with 29 seconds remaining in the middle period.

"I think we were kind of a little more hoping for a play," O'Reilly said about the third period. "We kind of lost our structure a bit and kind of having our numbers where we need them in order to generate some offense. It wasn't the best push by us."

Landeskog iced the game when he scored his fifth of the postseason with 2:08 remaining after Husso had started to skate off the ice for an extra attacker.

Colorado Avalanche vs St. Louis Blues Game Three NHL Playoffs
Moments after Colorado Avalanche right wing Logan O'Connor (25) scored against the St. Louis Blues in the first period at The Enterprise Center during game three of the second round of the NHL playoffs at the Enterprise Center May 21, 2022. (Photo by Andy Cross/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)"n

Lehkonen scored his second of the night with Husso pulled to put Colorado up 5-2 in the final minute.

(© Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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