TAMPA FL. — The Colorado Avalanche After defeating the 2001 Stanley Cup, the Stanley Cup champions are now the new Stanley Cup champions Tampa Bay Lightning In Sunday’s Cup Final, Game 6 was won by 2-1
Arturri Lökonen was the Avalanche’s second-period game-winner. Darcy Kuemper In the win, 20 saves were made
Tampa Bay made its third consecutive appearance to the Cup Final after back-toback titles in 2020 and 2021. The Lightning would be the NHL’s third consecutive Cup-winning team since the start of the NHL. New York Islanders Four times in succession from 1980-84.
To win the championship, the Avalanche needed another heroic effort. They also had lost two of their three series-clinching matches.
Steven Stamkos Kuemper scored his 11th goal in the postseason five-hole early in the first period. The Lightning took a 1-0 lead. In 20 minutes, Tampa Bay beat Colorado 10-8.
The Avalanche pulled back in the second. Nathan MacKinnon The equalizer was tallied with a one-timer from left circle past Andrei Vasilevskiy.
MacKinnon scored the second goal of the series on a delayed penalty. Tampa Bay disputed that the play was not called dead after Nick Paul touched the puck. The goal was scored to tie the game at 1-1.
Colorado continued to pound Vasilevskiy’s face until Lehkonen finally made it happen to give the Avalanche the lead, 2-1. This was Colorado’s first regulation lead in the series since Game 3.
The Lightning led at the start of the third period. However, Colorado made a strong push with a quick 5-0 advantage on shots on goal. Colorado won the game with a 3023 advantage.
To give Tampa Bay the chance to tie, Vasilevskiy held firm against Colorado’s final round of play. Lehkonen’s goal was the winner and made Colorado Cup champions.
The Avalanche had already failed to eliminate Tampa Bay once before. Colorado held a 3-1 series advantage going into Game 5, but could not stop the Cup defending champions in a 3-2 loss.
The series was won largely by the Avalanche before that. With a 4-3 overtime victory in Game 1 and a 7-0 loss in Game 2, Colorado held a 2-0 advantage over Tampa Bay. The Lightning responded with a dominant 6-2 win in Game 2, but were unable to outlast Colorado in Game 4, which was a 3-2 overtime defeat.
In Game 5, Tampa Bay put forth a brave effort to shut down Colorado’s electric home crowd. The series was extended an additional time. Although the Lightning stoked their own fans in Game 6, they were unable to stop Colorado’s aggressive attack.
Colorado had its last such event 21 years ago. The current general manger Joe Sakic The team’s captain, Ray Borque was immortally presented with the Cup. Sakic watched again from the top as he completed the job at the club he built.
The Colorado Cup victory was the culmination a dominating postseason run in which the Avalanche went 16-3 overall, swept both its first round series against Nashville and the Western Conference Finale against Edmonton.
It fit the theme of the Avalanche, as well as the purpose of hoisting hockey’s chalice onto enemy ice. Colorado did a fantastic job on the road in all playoffs. They finished with a 9-1 record and won all four series away from home.
Tampa Bay was unable to make it back to the Cup Final. They were beaten in all series except their second round sweep of Florida. The Lightning lost 3-2 to Toronto in round one and were down 2-0 to the final. New York Rangers In the Eastern Conference Final, but managed to get past each opponent.
The Lightning played much of the postseason with no top forwards Brayden Point. After suffering a lower-body injury against Toronto in Game 7, he missed more than a month before returning to the Cup Final for Game 1 and 2. Point did not return to the series.
Colorado was also plagued by injury. Kuemper, Nazem Kadri Andre Burakovsky Each of them missed multiple games because of various ailments. Burakovsky, who suffered a hand injury during Game 2, was not able to compete in the Cup Final. Kadri’s fractured thumb — sustained in a boarding collision with Evander Kane Especially during the Conference Final — was extremely poor. He did manage to make a comeback in the Cup Final, scoring the overtime winner.
The Avalanche endured their challenges with remarkable depth and that was the cornerstone of their overall success. The Avalanche had 10 players who scored at least one goal in Cup Final, and 17 of them registered a point (including Kuemper).
The Cup Final was hotly anticipated due to the goaltending matchup. Andrei Vasilevskiy, who had a poor performance in Game 1, rebounded to become Tampa Bay’s best goaltender.
Kuemper also overcame his adversity. Kuemper was also pulled from Game 3 after allowing five goals on 22 shots. However, Bednar returned to him as backup. Pavel Francouz Kuemper was the best in Game 4, with 37 saves and.949SV%.
Kuemper had to save Vasilevskiy in the final to win a Cup for Colorado.