The Colorado Avs won the Stanley Cup for the first time in 13 years after defeating the Lightning in the final.
The game was decided in the second period. Kuemper made 20 saves in the win.
After back-to-back titles in 2020 and 2021, the Bolts were back in the Cup Final. The New York Islanders were the last team to win four in a row, from 1980 to 1983.
It took another come-from-behind effort from the Avs to win the title. Two of their previous series-clinching games were from behind.
Stamkos scored his 11th goal of the playoffs early in the first period to give the Lightning a lead. The Colorado team was outshot 10-8 by theTampa Bay team.
In the second, the Avs pushed back. Nathan MacKinnon scored from the left circle to tie the game.
MacKinnon's second goal of the series came on a delayed penalty call and the Bolts took issue with the play not being called dead. The goal stood because it wasn't reviewable, so it tied the game.
Colorado continued to pepper Vasilevskiy until Lehkonen finally broke through and gave the Avs the lead. Colorado had its first lead of the series.
The Lightning trailed to start the third period, but they were able to claw their way back into the game. The game ended with Colorado winning 30-23.
Vasilevskiy stood his ground against Colorado in the final frame to give the Bolts a chance. It was Lehkonen's goal that made Colorado Cup champion.
At the beginning of the elimination of Tampa Bay, the Avs failed. Going into Game 5 on Friday, Colorado was in control of the series, but couldn't shut down the defending Cup winners.
Before that, the series was mostly controlled by the Avalanche. In the first and second games of the series, Colorado won 4-3 in overtime and ran away with it. In the first two games of the series, the Lightning won by a combined score of 8-2, but lost in overtime in the third and fourth games.
Colorado's electric home crowd was silenced in the fifth game of the series by a brave effort by the Bolts. In Game 6 the Lightning fed off their own fans, but they couldn't stop Colorado from attacking again.
The Cup was passed off to Ray Bourque when Colorado last won it in 1994. The club he created finished the job again.
Colorado's Cup win was the culmination of a dominant postseason run in which the Avs went 16-3 and swept both their first-round series against Nashville and the Western Conference finals against the Eskimos.
It fit with the theme of the hockey team to hoist the trophy. Colorado finished with a 9-1 record on the road in the playoffs and completed all four of its series victories away from home.
MacKinnon said it felt like he was in disbelief. It's hard to describe, but seeing all of these warriors battle is unbelievable.
The road back to the Cup Final was not easy, as it fell behind in all but one series. In the first and second rounds of the playoffs, the Lightning lost to Toronto and the New York Rangers but came back to win.
Without Point, the Bolts played a lot of the playoffs. He missed the first two games of the Cup Final because of a lower-body injury, but returned in time for the first game. Point wouldn't come back to the series.
Colorado had concerns about injuries. Kuemper, Kadri, and Burakovsky all missed a lot of games due to various injuries. Kadri broke his thumb during the conference finals when he boarded Evander Kane. He scored the overtime winner in the fourth game of the cup final.
Impressive depth was a cornerstone of their success. There were 10 different players who scored at least one goal in the Cup Final, including Kuemper.
Heading into the Cup Final, there was a lot of interest in the goaltending match up. The best player from the first game was Vasilevskiy.
Kuemper overcame a lot of challenges as well. He was pulled from Game 3 for allowing five goals on 22 shots, but Bednar went back to him and Kuemper delivered his most complete performance of the playoffs.
Kuemper had to make one more save to help Colorado win the Cup.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
