Wednesday Postseason Caterwaul: Florida Panthers Open Forum

J.T. Compher scored twice, Cale Makar had a goal and two assists and Mikko Rantanen, Nathan MacKinnon, and Gabriel Landeskog each produced a goal and a helper for the Colorado Avalanche in a wild 8-6 win over the Edmonton Oilers to the open the Western Conference Final.

The Avalanche chased Mike Smith 6:20 into the second period and then Andrew Cogliano put one past Mika Koskinen ten minutes later to give Colorado a 7-3 lead before the Oilers rallied with three straight goals before Landeskog clinched with a late empty-netter.

Connor McDavid had a goal and two assists, and Evander Kane and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins each had a goal and an assist for Edmonton.

Game 1 featured all four goaltenders. Darcy Kuemper stopped 13 of 16 shots before he departed 59 seconds after Smith was pulled because of an upper-body injury. Pavel Francouz made 18 saves in relief.

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Tonight’s game

New York Rangers at Tampa Bay Lightning 8 p.m. (ESPN)

Pregame at Blueshirt Banter and Raw Charge