It took extra time, however the Colorado Avalanche have a 1-0 collection lead within the Stanley Cup Closing after an exhilarating Sport 1 end. Andre Burakovsky performed the function of hero for the Avalanche by scoring the game-winning purpose, capping off an incredible crew effort at residence.

The Avs got here out with hair on fireplace within the first interval as they jumped out to a 3-1 lead and put the Bolts on their heels. Tampa Bay, one 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. Nonetheless, the Lightning could not survive the barrage of Avs for for much longer. After a nasty fumble by Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman, Valeri Nichuskin slipped Burakovsky with a ravishing go, and he fired a shot into an open cage.

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

avalanche overwhelm lightning

The checklist of groups that may make Lightning seem like in over their heads may be very quick. In reality, it would solely be one crew lengthy. The Avalanche had been clearly the higher crew in Sport 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, based on Pure Stat Trick. In terms of particular groups, the Avalanche had the higher hand there as nicely. 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 thrice. The Lightning are a tricky crew, they do not win back-to-back Stanley Cups with out that high quality, however they want a a lot greater effort in Sport 2 to tie this collection again to Tampa.

Concern for Kuemper

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

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. If you have a look at the underlying numbers, it is even worse. Tampa Bay solely created 1.54 anticipated objectives in all conditions, which 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 actually 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 Sport 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 rationale the Avs are so deadly is that their depth is unmatched by any crew within the league, and Nichuskin is a major instance of that. He obtained his sixth purpose 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 a good shot to offer to teammate Burakovsky. . , a giant. After failing to get rid of Colorado within the second spherical a 12 months in the past, Nichuskin has upped his recreation this 12 months, and that makes the Avalanche a way more harmful crew.