Avalanche Shade Lightning, 4-3, in Stanley Cup Finals’ Game 1

Overtime goal propels Avalanche over Lightning in Game 1
Avalanche continue as favorite as Game 2 beckons on Saturday
Colorado stays perfect in 2021-22 series with Tampa Bay

Bolts Open Stanley Cup Final with Potential For History

The Tampa Bay Lightning look like a three-peat might be in their future despite a 4-3 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche at Ball arena last night.

Game 1 in OT. Right in the feels for @Avalanche fans.
This #StanleyCup Final is going to be fun. pic.twitter.com/Mzi2uyGPKo
— NHL (@NHL) June 16, 2022

When the Lightning closed off the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference Finals, it marked a stable offense and defense which allowed them to win four straight games.

Tampa Bay will have more of an offensive juggernaut to dispose of in the Avalanche, who picked up last night’s win when Andre Burakovsky picked up the game-winner, just 1:23 into overtime. Lightning coach Jon Cooper has been getting imperial play from the superstar tandem of Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov as Kucherov leads the team with 24 points after he picked up an assist on Wednesday night.

Stamkos is the Lightning’s leading goal scorer in the playoffs as he has nine goals with seven assists.

Please Note:

Ondrej Palat has also been a major key with nine goals and eight assists as he is Tampa Bay’s second-leading scorer here in the postseason. He shaved Colorado’s second-period lead to 3-2 at 12:51 in the second period. Only 48 seconds later, Mikhail Sergachev tied the game at 3-3 which forced the overtime at 13:38.

The biggest outlet for Tampa Bay is still goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy who allowed only one goal per game to the New York Rangers in the last three matchups of the series.

Colorado jumped on him early as the Avs enjoyed a. 3-1 lead after one period.

Vasilevskiy is 12-6 in the playoffs and has a 2.49 goals-against average and also has a 91.6 percent save percentage.

Colorado is the Favorite Against Stanley Cup challenger

As the Colorado Avalanche came into its first Stanley Cup final in 21 seasons, it was favored (-160) against the Lightning powerhouse which is looking to be the first winner of the Cup in three successive seasons since the New York Islanders of the early 1980s. Colorado took the win in overtime and also pulled out one-goal decisions in the two regular-season matchups.

The Avs pick up the favored nod (-160) once again in Game 2 on Saturday evening.

Colorado is still the favorite (-190) at the sportsbooks to take the Stanley Cup from Tampa Bay as the Bolts sit at (+160) in the overall series odds. Colorado (-105) was favored in Tampa Bay in October where they picked up a 4-3 shootout win. Colorado was also a home favorite (-115) in February where they slid by the Bolts, 3-2.

Please Note:

The Avalanche were a (-1.5) favorite against the spread while Tampa Bay is at (+1.5). With the OVER/UNDER sitting at 6.5, the OVER captured the odds at (+105) while the UNDER stood at (-130).

Colorado was also the favorite on Wednesday night as the Avs sit at (-170) after being given (-210) odds a week ago. Tampa Bay (+145) has the precision and playoff experience to win it’s third Stanley Cup in a row.

Avalanche Fosters Offensive Firepower in Cup Challenge

Colorado led the NHL with 4.64 goals per game and their power play was tops in the NHL as the Avalanche netted 31.1 percent of their opportunities.

Offensively:

The Avalanche is the biggest challenge yet for the Lightning’s defense as center Nathan McKinnon, right-winger Valeri Nichuskin, and left-winger Gabriel Landeskog to comprise a solid offensive attack from the top of the Avalanche lineup.

MacKinnon and Landeskog are tied as Colorado’s second-leading scorers in the playoffs with 19 points.

Defenseman Cale Makar sparks the Avs’ offense as he leads with 22 points with 17 assists being the biggest part of that. Defensively, Colorado started Darcy Kuemper back in goal as he and backup Pavel Francouz were both healthy and set to play. Kuemper wound up with an upper-body injury in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals sweep against the Edmonton Oilers.

Kuemper has gone 7-2 in his 11 starts as he has accrued a .898 save percentage with 2.68 goals against.