Stanley Cup: Colorado Avalanche win, beat Tampa Bay Lightning
TAMPA, Fla. –
The Colorado Avalanche are again atop hockey’s mountain after dethroning the two-time defending champions.
Behind a aim and an help from Nathan MacKinnon, the Avalanche gained the Stanley Cup for the third time in franchise historical past and first in additional than 20 years by beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 in Recreation 6 of the ultimate Sunday night time.
It is the primary title for this core group led by MacKinnon, captain Gabriel Landeskog, Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar and it follows years of playoff disappointment. The Avalanche misplaced within the second spherical every of the previous three seasons after getting knocked out within the first spherical in 2018.
“It feels unbelievable,” MacKinnon mentioned. “Some powerful years combined in there, but it surely’s throughout now. We by no means stopped believing.”
With a mixture of pace, high-end expertise and the experiences gained from these defeats, Colorado broke by this time — incomes each little bit of the championship by knocking off the staff that hoisted the Cup the previous two years. Just like the Avalanche totally anticipated, it wasn’t straightforward.
After an early turnover by Makar resulting in Steven Stamkos’ aim that put them in a gap and a number of other extra bumps and bruises, the Avalanche tied it when MacKinnon beat 2021 playoff MVP Andrei Vasilevskiy with a near-perfect shot and went forward on one other massive aim by commerce deadline acquisition Artturi Lehkonen. They locked issues down by holding on to the puck and never letting Tampa Bay even shoot the puck on Darcy Kuemper within the third interval.
After they did, he was there. Introduced in from Arizona in a commerce final summer time to shore up the game’s most vital place, Kuemper was stable once more and made his most vital save with underneath seven minutes left when he slid over to disclaim expert winger Nikita Kucherov.
Very similar to the Lightning went all in a number of occasions by buying and selling excessive draft picks and prospects to load up for the perfect likelihood to win the Cup, Avalanche normal supervisor Joe Sakic was not afraid to ante up in March to accumulate Lehkonen, defenseman Josh Manson and veteran ahead Andrew Cogliano. They grew to become the proper complement to Colorado’s core that had confirmed loads of playoff promise and till now hadn’t produced a championship.
Sakic, who captained Colorado’s first two title-winning groups in 1996 and 2001, used a well-recognized recipe to get his staff over the hump. Very similar to Pierre Lacroix, the architect of these Avalanche groups that had a lot success after the group moved to Denver, Sakic prioritized ability, pace and flexibility.
That pace overwhelmed each opponent alongside the best way, from a gap sweep of Nashville by a hard-fought, six-game collection in opposition to St. Louis, one other sweep of Edmonton after which Tampa Bay, which staved off elimination as soon as however ended up two victories in need of changing into the NHL’s first three-peat champions because the early Nineteen Eighties New York Islanders dynasty.
“They seem to be a staff that is seeking to develop into a dynasty,” Makar mentioned. “We’re a staff that is seeking to begin a legacy.”
That legacy lastly entails a championship, thanks largely to regular coach Jared Bednar, who in his sixth season discovered a technique to focus his staff on the mission at hand from the beginning of coaching camp. That mentality helped the Avalanche recover from the hump, and Bednar grew to become the primary coach to win the Stanley Cup, American Hockey League’s Calder Cup and ECHL’s Kelly Cup.
Bednar gained the chess match with Jon Cooper, additionally a Stanley and Calder Cup champion who is taken into account among the best tacticians within the NHL. However issues started to stack up in opposition to the Lightning dealing with their stiffest competitors since their run of success started in 2020.
Accidents that sidelined high middle Brayden Level and restricted different key contributors proved an excessive amount of in opposition to a stacked opponent constructed to resist absolutely anything. Depth allowed the Avalanche to beat dropping defenseman Samuel Girard to a damaged sternum and end off the Lightning with out Cup Remaining Recreation 1 additional time Andre Burakovsky sidelined by harm and with standout winger Valeri Nichushkin hobbling round on an injured proper foot and middle Nazem enjoying by a damaged proper thumb.
The Avalanche beat the Lightning earlier than attrition might take an excessive amount of of a toll and earlier than the scary chance of dealing with elimination in Recreation 7. As a substitute, they will return to Denver to rejoice with the Stanley Cup.
Whereas not as emotional because the previous two years when Stamkos acquired the trophy, Colorado’s series-ending victory marks one other completion of an NHL season throughout a pandemic — the primary again to 82 video games with a standard playoff format since 2019. It was not with out its stumbles, together with suspending dozens of video games and pulling out of the Olympics — and Commissioner Gary Bettman wasn’t even in a position to hand the Cup to Landeskog as a result of he examined optimistic for the coronavirus, leaving deputy Invoice Daly to do the honors.
The Avalanche and Lightning handled at-times tough ice situations enjoying late into June, one thing that ought to not occur shifting ahead because the league will get again to its common schedule. When that occurs, Colorado will get the possibility to defend its crown and try to observe Tampa Bay in sustaining a perennial Cup contender.
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AP Sports activities Author Pat Graham in Denver contributed to this report.
