He colorado avalanche they’re back on top of hockey’s mountain after dethroning the two-time defending champions.
Behind a goal and an assist from Nathan MacKinnon, the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup for the third time in franchise history and the first time in more than two decades by beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 in Game 6 of the finals on Sunday night.
It’s the first title for this core group led by MacKinnon, captain Gabriel Landeskog, Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar and follows years of playoff disappointment. The Avalanche have lost in the second round each of the past three seasons after being eliminated in the first round in 2018.
With a combination of speed, top-tier talent, and the experiences gleaned from those losses, Colorado broke through this time around, winning every part of the championship by defeating the team that lifted the Cup the past two years. As expected, the avalanche was not easy.
After an early turnover by Makar that led to Steven Stamkos’ goal that put them in a hole and several more bumps and bruises, the Avalanche tied it when MacKinnon beat 2021 playoff MVP Andrei Vasilevskiy with a near-perfect shot. and went ahead with another great goal. by trade deadline acquisition Artturi Lehkonen. They blocked things out by holding on to the puck and not letting Tampa Bay even fire the puck at Darcy Kuemper in the third quarter.
When they did, he was there. Brought in from Arizona in a trade last summer to shore up the game’s top position, Kuemper was solid again, making his biggest save with less than seven minutes to go when he slid to deny skilled winger Nikita Kucherov.
Just as the Lightning did it all multiple times trading high draft picks and prospects for the best shot at winning the Cup, Avalanche GM Joe Sakic wasn’t afraid to gamble in March to acquire defensive back Lehkonen. Josh Manson and the veteran. Forward Andres Cogliano. They became the perfect complement to the Colorado core that had shown a lot of promise in the playoffs and had yet to produce a championship.
Sakic, who captained Colorado’s first two title-winning teams in 1996 and 2001, used a family recipe to get his team over the hurdle. Like Pierre Lacroix, the architect of those Avalanche teams that became so successful after the organization moved to Denver, Sakic prioritized skill, speed and versatility.
That speed overwhelmed every opponent along the way, from an opening sweep of Nashville to a tight six-game series against St. Louis, another sweep of Edmonton, and then Tampa Bay, which avoided elimination once but finished within two wins. away. of becoming the first three NHL champions since the New York Islanders dynasty in the early 1980s.
“They are a team looking to become a dynasty,” Makar said. “We are a team that is looking to start a legacy.”
That legacy finally involves a championship, thanks in large part to constant coach Jared Bednar, who in his sixth season found a way to focus his team on the mission at hand since the start of training camp. That mindset helped the Avalanche overcome the hurdle, and Bednar became the first coach to win the Stanley Cup, the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup and the ECHL’s Kelly Cup.
Bednar won the chess match with Jon Cooper, also a Stanley Cup champion, and Calder, considered one of the best tacticians in the NHL. But things started to take a turn for the worse against the Lightning who are facing their toughest competition since their run of success began in 2020.
Injuries that sidelined top center Brayden Point and limited other key contributors proved too much against a stacked opponent built to withstand almost anything. Depth allowed the Avalanche to get past defenseman Samuel Girard missing to a broken sternum and finish the Lightning without Cup 1 Final Game overtime scorer Andre Burakovsky sidelined with injury and with standout winger Valeri Nichushkin limping with an injured right foot and center Nazem Kadri playing. a broken right thumb.
The Avalanche beat the Lightning before attrition could take its toll and before the terrifying prospect of facing elimination in Game 7. Instead, they’ll return to Denver to celebrate with the Stanley Cup.
While not nearly as emotional as the past two years when Commissioner Gary Bettman presented the trophy to Stamkos, Colorado’s series finale win marks another NHL season-ending during a pandemic — the first ever to return to 82 games in a normal playoff format since 2019. It was not without its setbacks, including the postponement of dozens of games and the withdrawal of the Olympic Games.
The Avalanche and Lightning dealt with sometimes difficult icy conditions by playing through the end of June, something that shouldn’t happen in the future as the league returns to its regular schedule. When that happens, Colorado will have a chance to defend its crown and will try to follow Tampa Bay to keep a perennial Cup contender.
Associated Press report
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