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Colorado Avalanche advance to Stanley Cup Final for 1st time in 21 years

The Colorado Avalanche completed the sweep of the Edmonton Oilers to win the Western Conference.

EDMONTON, AB — The Colorado Avalanche are headed to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2001. 

The Avalanche beat the Edmonton Oilers 6-5 in overtime Monday night to complete the four-game sweep in the Western Conference Final.

The Avalanche will now meet either the Tampa Bay Lightning or New York Rangers in the championship of the National Hockey League.

Cale Makar scored the only goal for either team in the first period, four minutes in, to give the Avalanche an early 1-0 lead.

The Oilers' Zach Hyman would tie it up midway through the second period with his 10th goal of the postseason. Center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins gave Edmonton a 2-1 lead late in the second period.

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The Oilers had three goals in six shots when Connor McDavid scored with a minute remaining in the second period. The Oilers took a 3-1 lead into the locker room after two periods.

But in the next period, Devon Toews had an immediate answer for the Avalanche, scoring 30 seconds into the third to narrow the Oilers' lead to 3-2.

Credit: AP
Colorado Avalanche players stand with the Campbell Conference Bowl and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daley after defeating the Edmonton Oilers during overtime NHL hockey conference finals action in Edmonton, Alberta, on Monday, June 6, 2022. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)

The Oilers went back up by two goals when Hyman scored his second goal of the night with 16 minutes remaining in the third period.

The Avalanche refused to go down without a fight. Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog tapped in a goal underneath Oilers goalie Mike Smith with 11 minutes remaining to narrow the Oilers' lead to 4-3.

The Avalanche continued to show grit, battling back to tie the game 4-4 in the third period on a goal from Nathan MacKinnon.

Then, with five minutes remaining, it was forward Mikko Rantanen who gave the Avalanche a 5-4 lead on a power play goal.

But the Oilers weren't done. Zach Kassian evened the score at 5-5 with a goal at 3:30 left in the third period to send the game into overtime.

Artturi Lehkonen was the hero for the Avalanche, scoring 1:19 into overtime to give the Avalanche the sweep over the Oilers. 

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