Avalanche win it late, Rakell inspires Ducks

Francois Beauchemin scored with 31.7 seconds left on the clock in the third period to hand the Colorado Avalanche a 2-1 win against the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday.

Sabres forward Evander Kane opened the scoring with under four minutes left in the second period, before Alex Tanguay tied it mid-way through the third.

And it was Tanguay who set up the winning goal for Beauchemin, sealing a 10th straight victory over the Sabres.

The Anaheim Ducks left it late themselves, scoring twice in the third period to claim a 3-1 win over the Minnesota Wild.

Jarret Stoll had given the Wild a 1-0 lead 6 minutes, 48 seconds into the first period but Chris Stewart managed to tie the game four minutes later.

After a scoreless second period the game came to life in the third when Rickard Rakell scored his 10th goal of the season to put the Ducks ahead.

With the Wild chasing a goal to tie the game, the Ducks managed to score into an empty net with 49 seconds to go courtesy of Jakob Silfverberg.

The St. Louis Blues held on for a 2-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings, thanks in part to goaltender Brian Elliott's 29 saves.

Ty Rattie put the Blues ahead in the first period before Dmitri Jaskin doubled their advantage at 52:13.

Henrik Zetterberg pulled one back for the Red Wings late in the game but a penalty to Dylan Larkin for hooking dashed their hopes of sending the game into overtime.