Beverley, Toronto Make Good in Beating St. Louis, 5-4

Nick Beverley had guaranteed a win, and you have to wonder if his carping about his St. Louis counterpart, Coach Mike Keenan, paid off Thursday night when Toronto beat the Blues, 5-4, in overtime.

Mike Gartner scored three goals, including the winner, on a power play 7:31 into the overtime. Toronto cut St. Louis’ lead in the series to 3-2.

Beverley addressed his players before overtime.

“I told them Guaranteed Win Night doesn’t come easy, but that I wanted it big time,” he said.

The Maple Leafs got it, in part, said Keenan, because of some acting.

Toronto went on the power play after Murray Baron was sent to the penalty box for hauling down the Maple Leafs’ Nick Kypreos.

“Kypreos took a dive,” claimed Keenan. “He’s probably one of the best divers in the league, and he took advantage of his skill.”

Kypreos said he was just going for the net.

“That’s where the action is,” he said. “If you can get your stick down around the crease, you get a scoring chance or make them pull you down.”

Beverley had claimed Keenan was trying to intimidate the officials during the series, and Kypreos discounted Keenan’s gripe.

“I’d be more shocked if I heard no comment,” Kypreos said. “He’s a smart man. He says things only to benefit himself and his hockey club.”

On the winning play, Wendel Clark got a shot on goalie Jon Casey. The rebound dropped onto Doug Gilmour’s stick and he slid a short, cross-ice pass to Gartner for a tap-in into the open side of the net.

Colorado 5, Vancouver 4--Joe Sakic scored his third goal of the game 51 seconds into overtime at Denver, and the Avalanche took a 3-2 lead in the series with the Canucks.

Sakic’s three goals offset three by Vancouver’s Trevor Linden.

After Vancouver goalie Corey Hirsch made a sprawling stop early in overtime, Sakic chased down the loose puck in the right corner and his shot sailed just inside the post.

Boston 6, Florida 2--Adam Oates’ goal 4:48 into the game gave the Bruins their first lead in the series and helped them win at home and cut the Panthers’ edge in the series to 3-1.

In the first three games, Florida led, 3-0, in two of them and, 2-0, in the other. The Panthers tied Thursday’s game on Bill Lindsay’s goal at 2:49 of the second period, but Boston charged back with three goals in six minutes for a 4-1 lead.

Philadelphia 4, Tampa Bay 1--John LeClair scored his fourth goal of the playoffs and the physical Flyers rolled at Philadelphia to take a 3-2 series lead.

LeClair’s power-play goal followed scores by Mikael Renberg, Pat Falloon and Shjon Podein in the penalty-filled game in which the Flyers’ Eric Lindros’ nose was bloodied in the second period.

Tampa Bay’s Daren Puppa, among the league’s top goalies during the regular season, sat out Games 3 and 4 because of back spasms. He gave up all four scores and was replaced by Jeff Reese at 6:07 of the third period.