Colorado Avalanche sweep aside Oilers to advance to Stanley Cup final

Artturi Lehkonen is sending a team to the Stanley Cup final for the second straight season.

Lehkonen scored 1:19 into overtime, and Colorado rallied to beat the Edmonton Oilers 6-5 Monday night, completing a four-game sweep in the Western Conference final and propelling the Avalanche into the Stanley Cup final for the first time since 2001.

Colorado will take on the winner of the Eastern Conference final between the New York Rangers and two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning. The Rangers lead that best-of-seven series 2-1. Game 4 is Tuesday at Tampa Bay.

Lehkonen repeated his feat of last season, when he scored in OT in Game 6 to send the Montreal Canadiens to the final against eventual repeat champion Tampa Bay.

“Cale (Makar) took the shot,” Lehkonen said. “I got a tip on it. It landed straight on my blade. I basically had an empty netter in front of me, so tap it in.”

Lehkonen becomes the second player in NHL history, and first in 83 years, to score an overtime goal to send his club into the championship series more than once in his career. Toronto’s Gordie Drillon accomplished the feat in 1938-39.

“Everybody knows how good he is, how resilient he is,” Mikko Rantanen said of fellow Finn Lehkonen, acquired by Colorado at the trade deadline. “He checks, he defends hard, he kills penalties, plays on the power play, he scores big goals, goes to the hard areas. What else can you ask for from a player – a trade acquisition. It’s fun to watch, and I’m really happy that we got him, and he’s shown why we gave quite a bit for him.”

Cale Makar, Devon Toews Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Rantanen also scored for Colorado. Pavel Francouz stopped 30 of 35 shots.

“Our main thing is just trying to be