CRAIG BERUBE

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

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.

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.

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.

Nathan Walker scored his first career hat trick and fourth-string goaltender Charlie Lindgren made 29 saves, leading the St. Louis Blues to a 6-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings.

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.

BOSTON (AP) St. Louis Blues beat Boston Bruins 4-1 in Game 7 for their first Stanley Cup title. Ryan O'Reilly scored for the fourth straight game and rookie Jordan Binnington stopped 32 shots in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday night to lead the St. Louis Blues to a 4-1 victory over the Boston Bruins and their first NHL championship. Alex Pietrangelo added a goal and an assist and Brayden Schenn and Zach Sanford also scored for St. Louis. The Blues woke up on New Year's morning with the worst record in the league but won 30 of their final 49 regular-season games and soared through the playoffs to reach the final for the first time since 1970. Coach Craig Berube, who took over when Mike Yeo was fired in November, is the fourth coach in the past 11 years hired in midseason to lead his team to the NHL title.