TAMPA, FL – Colorado Avelanch are champions of the Stanley Cup for the first time since 2001, after beating Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 in Game 6 of Sunday’s Cup final.
Arthur Lehkonen scored the winner of Avalanche’s game in the second period. Darcy Kumper registered 22 saves in the victory.
Tampa Bay made its third consecutive Cup final after consecutive championships in 2020 and 2021. Lightning would be the first NHL team to win three consecutive cups after the New York Islanders won four in a row from 1980 to 1983.
Winning the victory took another effort coming from behind Avalanche to win the first championship of their franchise in two decades. They also played from behind in two of their previous three clinch games.
Stephen Stamkos scored his 11th goal in Kuemper’s post-season 5-hole early in the first period, giving Lightning a 1-0 lead. Tampa Bay overtook Colorado by 10-8 to 20 minutes.
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The avalanche pushed back into the second. Nathan McKinnon equalized with a single shot from the left circle past Andrei Vassilevsky.
MacKinnon’s second goal of the series came after a deferred penalty and Tampa Bay objected to the game not being declared dead when Nick Paul touched the puck. Determining whether Paul ruled could not be reconsidered, so the goal was a draw, 1-1.
Colorado continued to pepper Vasilevski until Lehkonen finally tried and put Avalanche ahead 2-1. This was Colorado’s first lead in the regulations in the series after Game 3.
The lightning lagged behind at the beginning of the third period, but it was Avalanche who pressed with a quick 5-0 advantage when hitting the door. Colorado finished with a 30-23 lead in the game.
Vassilevski faced Colorado’s attack in the final frame to give Tampa Bay a chance to equalize, but Lekonen’s goal would have been the winner and become the Colorado Cup champion.
Avalanche has already failed once in the elimination of Tampa Bay. Colorado secured a 3-1 series lead in Game 5 on Friday, but could not stop the defending Cup winner from losing 3-2.
Previously, Avalanche controlled mostly the series. Colorado secured a 2-0 lead over Tampa Bay with a 4-3 overtime in Game 1 and 7-0 in Game 2. Lightning responded with their own 6-2 win in Game 3, but failed to withstand Colorado at a loss with 3-2 overtimes in match 4.
Tampa Bay made a bold effort in Game 5 to silence Colorado’s electric home crowd and see the series extend another game. Lightning fed their own fans in Game 6, but could not shut down Colorado’s aggressive attack another time.
When Colorado last won the Cup 21 years ago, current general manager Joe Sakic was captain of the team, handing over the Cup to legendary defender Ray Burke at an iconic moment. This time, Sakic watched from above as the club he had set up did the job again.
Winning the Colorado Cup was the culmination of a dominant series after the season, in which Avalanche scored a total of 16-3 and defeated their series in the first round against Nashville and the Western Conference finals against Edmonton.
Suitable for the Avalanche, as well as for raising the hockey pot on the enemy ice. Colorado was great on the road through all the playoffs, finishing 9-1 and finishing all four wins in the series away from home.
“I feel like I don’t believe it,” McKinnon said. “It’s hard to describe, but to see all these warriors fighting … is just amazing.”
Colorado defender Cale McCarthy, who won the Norris trophy last week as the league’s best defender, was awarded the Cohn Smythe trophy for the most outstanding player of the off-season.
“Find Cale McCarthy somewhere,” said captain Gabriel Landeskog when asked how teams can emulate what Colorado has achieved. “We’re a really tough team to play against.”
Tampa Bay had a harder time reaching the Cup final, falling behind in every series except the second round in Florida. Lightning lost 3-2 to Toronto in the first round and 2-0 to the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference finals, but found a way over any opponent.
The lightning also played much of the postseason without top striker Braden Point. He suffered a lower body injury in Game 7 against Toronto and missed more than a month before returning for Game 1 and Game 2 of the Cup final. Still not himself, Point would not return to the series.
Colorado also had concerns about injuries. Kumper, Nazem Kadri and Andre Burakovski missed several matches with various illnesses (Burakovski was out of the Cup final after suffering an arm injury in match 2). Kadri’s broken thumb – which had an accident while boarding Evander Kane during the conference finale – was particularly severe and required surgery. He managed to return to match 4 of the Cup final and scored the winner in overtime.
The Avalanche persevered through their problems with impressive depth, which was a cornerstone of their overall success. In Avalanche, 10 different players scored at least one goal in the Cup final and 17 scored a point or more (including Quemper).
The goalkeepers’ meeting was a hot topic for the Cup final and did not disappoint. Vasilevski bounced back after a poor performance in Match 1 (.895 SV%) to be Tampa Bay’s best player from there.
Kumper also overcame adversity. He was drawn from Game 3 to concede five goals in 22 shots, but Avalanche coach Jared Bednar returned to him in place of substitute Pavel Frankuz for Game 4, and Kumper showed his fullest performance in the playoffs (37 saves, .949 SV %).
In the end, Kumper made enough saves to help award the trophy to Colorado.
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