He and Avalanche are calm, confident and rolling. Now they are two victories away from the dethronement of the two-time defenders of the champions. Looking like by far the best team, Avalanche beat Tampa Bay Lightning 7-0 in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup final on Saturday night to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Coach Jared Bednar called it “as close to the perfect game you can get from your players”. “I feel like we played with our identity in a ‘T’ tonight,” Makar said. “We had some good goals and things like that … It was a little weird tonight. Obviously, we have opportunities, but the kids were able to take advantage, so that’s good.” CLOCKS Nichushkin, Avalanche make statement on fighting Lightning:
Avalanche leads Stanley Cup final with 2 games after Lightning victory
Colorado beats Tampa Bay 7-0 and leads 2-0 in the Stanley Cup final. Valeri Nichushkin and Cale Makar score two goals each. Valeri Nichushkin scored his seventh and eighth goals in the playoffs and continued to be the best player on the ice in the final. 35 year old grinder Darren Helm. got into the fun with one goal each. Makar, who did not even have a shot on goal in Game 1, scored twice in the third period, shouting “We want the Cup!” from a fiery crowd. “They are playing at the elite level right now – give them credit. We are not,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper. “They are two good teams. They are just playing at a much higher level right now than us.” Rarely did the Lightning outperform each other during this post-season success, but they also did not face an opponent like Avalanche, who forced them to make one uncharacteristic mistake after another. Colorado dominated every aspect of the game to take away two wins from its first title since 2001 and the first from that core led by Nathan MacKinnon. The Avalanche go to Tampa for Game 3 on Monday night in a row, despite consecutive goals from MacKinnon, who at times has played like a demon in an attempt to finally break and lift the Cup. They also became the third team in NHL history to score more than three goals in the first period of Games 1 and 2 in the final. “We played a very good game,” Helm said. “We just played a full 60-minute game.” The dominant performance started with an early mistake by the typically reliable Lightning defender Erik Cernak, when he hit the blue line in one of the first shifts of the game. It was all an avalanche after that. Their aggressive pre-emptive control led them to take a penalty on veteran Ryan McDonagh, to score in the power play that followed when Burakovsky fed Nitsushkin for his first night. It was not his last, and Colorado put it with six of the game’s first seven shots and complete dominance of the area with much of the game being played at the end of Tampa Bay.
The matches of lightning
With Vasilevskiy – whose game was the key to Lightning’s incredible ability to bounce after a playoff defeat – looking trembling and even dropping his head after letting Makar beat him in one of the many rushing two against one, the Avalanche made the most of their offensive zone time. The team with the highest scores this season after the end of the season has put a clinic against the team that has played more hockey than anyone else in the last two years. This can eventually have its toll and be exacerbated by the incredible speed with which the Avalanche are playing. Again, not only did they beat Lightning but they also used quick legs to force errors that turned into goals. “We came out with a goal,” said striker Andy Koliano, who returned after losing Game 1 with an injury to his right finger. “We got to our game, skated from the elf fall and just didn’t give up.” Tampa Bay fell to 18-2 after a defeat since the start of the first round in 2020. The 18-game winning streak ended in the Eastern Conference Finals against the New York Rangers when the Lightning fell 2-0 before roaring back. , although it is difficult to see Colorado fall into the same trap. The way Lightning lost this – by far the biggest explosion loss during this journey – came as a surprise to almost everyone. “Am I shocked that we lost the 7-zip?” said Lightning captain Steven Stamkos. “I mean, I do not think we saw that coming.” Even if the players reject the notion of momentum from game to game during a playoff series, their outburst over the champions combined with the 7-0 road record will fill the Avalanche with confidence. But they may still have to dive into the deep lake due to injuries. Following the return of Andrew Cogliano from the loss of the start of the season with an injury to his right finger, Avalanche lost Burakovsky again in the second period. Burakowski repulsed a shot in the first game in the Western Conference final and has been in pain ever since. Bednar said he would be re-evaluated before Game 2. Colorado is causing a lot of pain in Tampa Bay, which resorted to some rough things after being left behind. Of course, even MacKinnon threw hits in the third period despite the fact that the game was well in hand. Darcy Kuemper had little test in the net for Colorado, lifting the shutout with 17 saves. “It was just solid rock,” Manson said. “It was exactly what we needed to be.”
