It took extra time, however the Colorado Avalanche have a 1-0 sequence lead within the Stanley Cup Closing after an exhilarating Recreation 1 end. Andre Burakovsky performed the function of hero for the Avalanche by scoring the game-winning objective, capping off a fantastic staff effort at dwelling.

The Avs got here out with hair on hearth within the first interval as they jumped out to a 3-1 lead and put the Bolts on their heels. Tampa Bay, some of the balanced groups within the NHL, fought again within the second interval to tie the sport, scoring two objectives in simply 48 seconds from Ondrej Palat and Mikhail Sergachev.

Colorado utterly dominated the third interval, however Andrei Vasilevskiy helped Tampa Bay escape regulation and attain extra time. Nevertheless, the Lightning could not survive the barrage of Avs for for much longer. After a foul fumble by Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman, Valeri Nichuskin slipped Burakovsky with a good looking go, and he fired a shot into an open cage.

Tampa Bay will attempt to even the sequence in Recreation 2, which is scheduled for 8:00 pm ET on Saturday evening. Earlier than that, listed below are some takeaways from Colorado’s Recreation 1 victory.

Avalanche Overwhelm Lightning

The listing of groups that may make Lightning look like in over their heads could be very brief. In reality, it’d solely be one staff lengthy. The Avalanche have been clearly the higher staff in Recreation 1. It is so simple as that.

Irrespective of the way you have a look at it, the Avs carried him to back-to-back champions within the opening recreation. In 5 on 5, Colorado generated 2.60 anticipated objectives to Tampa Bay’s 1.05, in line with Pure Stat Trick. Relating to particular groups, the Avalanche had the higher hand there as effectively. Colorado transformed on certainly one of his three energy performs and had some high quality possibilities on the opposite two. In the meantime, the Avs’ penalty kill drive utterly silenced a deadly lead from Lightning Man all 3 times. The Lightning are a tricky staff, they do not win back-to-back Stanley Cups with out that high quality, however they want a a lot greater effort in Recreation 2 to tie this sequence again to Tampa.

Concern for Kuemper

From the numbers introduced above, in addition to the whole shot depend, one would assume that Colorado knocked Tampa Bay out of the constructing. As a substitute, the Avs wanted extra time, and a rebound the opposite approach might have put them in a 1-0 gap to begin this sequence.

That is as a result of the one space of ​​concern for Colorado on this recreation was between the pipes. Darcy Kuemper confronted simply 23 pictures over three durations of hockey and allowed three objectives. Whenever you have a look at the underlying numbers, it is even worse. Tampa Bay solely created 1.54 anticipated objectives in all conditions, that means Kuemper allowed 1.46 objectives above anticipated on this recreation alone. If it wasn’t already clear that the Lightnings have an enormous community benefit, it definitely is now. It stays to be seen what number of occasions the Avs can proceed to beat disappointing begins from their goalie.

Nichuskin steps ahead

The chief in anticipated objectives for the Avalanche in Recreation 1 was not Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen or Cale Makar. As a substitute, it was Nichuskin, who generated 0.74 anticipated objectives with all of that in 5 on 5.

A part of the explanation the Avs are so deadly is that their depth is unmatched by any staff within the league, and Nichuskin is a first-rate instance of that. He bought his sixth objective of this postseason when he fired a shot between Vasilevskiy’s legs within the first interval, and he assisted within the game-winner by having the presence of thoughts to go up an honest shot to offer to teammate Burakovsky. . , a giant. After failing to get rid of Colorado within the second spherical a yr in the past, Nichuskin has upped his recreation this yr, and that makes the Avalanche a way more harmful staff.