Avalanche advances with 2-1 win

Jose Theodore and the Colorado Avalanche withstood another onslaught from the relentless Minnesota Wild for a series-clinching 2-1 victory Saturday night at Denver.

Theodore stopped 34 shots, including a glove save on Kim Johnsson’s shot with 21 seconds left, and the Avalanche won the Western Conference first-round series in six games.

With an extra attacker over the final minute, Minnesota accidentally sent seven men on the ice for the final face-off in the Colorado end before Aaron Voros was sent off, and the Wild never managed a shot.

Boston 5, Montreal 4 -- Marco Sturm scored with 2:37 left and the Bruins overcame three deficits at Boston to force Game 7 in their Eastern Conference first-round series.

The eighth-seeded Bruins, who lost all 20 previous best-of-seven series in which they’d trailed, 3-1, will try to eliminate the top-seeded Canadiens on Monday night at Montreal.

Sturm scored after goalie Carey Price stopped his first shot but failed to control the puck. Sturm got it, skated across the crease and scored.

Washington 3, Philadelphia 2 -- The Capitals avoided elimination in their Eastern Conference series behind goaltender Cristobal Huet. Nicklas Backstrom, Sergei Fedorov and Alexander Semin scored the goals -- one in each period -- and Huet made 30 saves for host Washington, which trails in the series, 3-2.