There will be a game 6. Tampa Bay Lightning entered the noisy Ball Arena and drew a bold 3-2 victory over Colorado Avelanch in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final in 2022. The successive champions are not yet ready, although they entered the game with less in the 3-1 series. Colorado won Game 4 after extra time in Tampa. Lightning returned the favor on Friday, snatching that victory in Colorado.
Like Game 3, Lightning led 1-0 and 2-1. This time Jan Ruta and Nikita Kucherov scored for Tampa Bay, and Colorado entered the third period, one goal behind. However, it didn’t take long for Avalanche to level things off, as Cale McCarth’s shot received a favorable rebound from Lightning defender Eric Chernak’s slip to slip away from Tampa goalkeeper Andrei Vassilevsky.
Not shaken by bad luck with the puck, Lighting kept pushing and eventually tried to lead. With the remaining 6:22 in the regulations, Victor Hedman pinched in the corner and found Ondrej Palat wide open in the slot. Palace did not miss a great chance to score, firing a bullet at the feet of Colorado goalkeeper Darcy Kumper.
No one expected this Lightning team to roll over and hand over the Stanley Cup to Avalanche, but it was still an impressive victory. The Avalanche will again try to end the series in Game 6 on Sunday night. The descent is scheduled shortly after 20:00 ET.
Bolts fight back
No one should be surprised that Lightning played an incredible battle in Denver, but defeating Avalanche at home is a difficult task, especially with fans foaming at the mouth for another Stanley Cup. Tampa Bay looked lost in games 1 and 2, but the team struggled in three periods in game 5.
Lightning didn’t really need to withstand a storm during the first period because, to their credit, there was no huge boost from Avalanche. Instead, it was a fairly even shot, and Tampa went into the locker room with the lead. Undoubtedly the most impressive part of Bolts’ performance was how they reacted after conceding an early goal in the third period in an unfortunate rebound. Ball Arena buzzed and Vassilevski had to make several big saves, but Tampa ignited quickly and scored the winning goal. The lightning went through a lot and there is simply no panic in this group. That was on display tonight.
The difference is goalkeeping
It was the most played match in the series so far and one goal made all the difference. This meant that a big Kuemper error was looming in the dashboard. Just looking at the number of shots, Kumper had a decent night. He stopped 26 of the 29 shots he faced, but Tampa Bay’s first goal was the one he had to stop if Colorado wanted to end the series. Ruth fired a seemingly harmless blow from the right circle, but it slid between the glove and Kumper’s pad to turn on the lamp. Kuemper settled after that, but one mistake lost this match for Avs. He had too many of these gaps in the postseason, but it still hasn’t cost Avs. His colleague Vasilevski stopped 35 of the 37 shots against him, becoming another flawless performance in the playoffs. I’ve said it before, but this goal mismatch is Tampa’s best shot to win this Stanley Cup final.
Ondrej Palat is coming big again
Palat is not the biggest star in the NHL, but there are certainly arguments that he is the biggest star. With another winning goal in Game 5, Palat wrote another chapter in his encyclopedia about the heroic post-season.
This result from the third period was the 12th winning playoff goal in Palat’s career, dating back to 2014. According to Sportsnet, it ranks third among active players, after only Joe Pavelski and Evgeni Malkin. This is not a bad company. In each of the last two games of Tampa Bay for the Stanley Palace Cup, he scored two winning goals, but this year he surpassed himself. This was the third winner in the game for the Palace of the playoffs for 2022 and there is at least one more game that he can add to this total. For some reason, when the game gets tense, Palat is the one who intervenes and does it for the Lightning.
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