It took extra time, but the Colorado Avalanche have a 1-0 lead in the Stanley Cup final after an exciting first game final. Andre Burakovsky was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Avalanche and finished off a strong pass from the home side.
The Avs came out with their hair on fire in the first period as they jumped to a 3-1 and put the Bolts on their heels. Tampa Bay, one of the most prepared teams in the NHL, bounced back in the second period to tie the game, scoring two goals in just 48 seconds from Ondrej Palat and Mikhail Sergachev.
Colorado thoroughly dominated the third period, but Andrei Vasilevskiy helped Tampa Bay escape regulation and reach overtime. However, the Lightning could not survive the bombing of the Avs for much longer. After a brief tussle with the defender, Victor Hedman finally tucked the ball home. Valeri Nichuskin slipped and slithered in the wet grass. His usual rapid runs were nowhere to be seen today.
Tampa Bay will try to match the series in Game 2, which is scheduled for 8:00 pm ET Saturday night. Before that, here are a few things to take away from Colorado’s first game win.
Avalanche overwhelms the lightning
The list of equipment that can make the Lightning look like it’s over their heads is very short. In fact, he could only have one team. The Avalanche was clearly the best team in Game 1. It’s as simple as that.
No matter how you cut it, the Avs took him to the consecutive champions in the opening game. In five-on-five, Colorado generated 2.60 goals expected in Tampa Bay’s 1.05, by Natural Stat Trick. When it comes to special equipment, the Avalanche also had an advantage. Colorado made one of his three power plays and had quality chances in the other two. Meanwhile, the Avs penalty elimination unit completely silenced a lethal advantage of Lightning man on all three occasions. The Lightning are a tough team – don’t win two straight Stanley Cups without that quality, but they need a lot better effort in Game 2 to tie this series back in Tampa.
Concern for Kuemper
From the numbers listed above, as well as the total count of shots, one might think that Colorado took Tampa Bay out of the building. Instead, the Avs needed overtime, and a rebound on the other side could have put them in a 1-0 hole to start that series.
That’s because the only area of concern for Colorado in this game was between the pipes. Darcy Kuemper only faced 23 shots in more than three hockey periods and allowed three goals. When you look at the numbers below, it’s even worse. Tampa Bay only created 1.54 goals expected in all situations, which means Kuemper allowed 1.46 goals higher than expected in this game alone. If it was not yet clear that Lightning has a big advantage in the network, now it is. It remains to be seen how many times Avs can continue to overcome disappointing starts from his goalkeeper.
Nichuskin takes a step back
The leader in goals expected by Avalanche in the first game was not Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen or Cale Makar. On the other hand, Nichuskin’s play was disheartening.
Part of the reason the Avs are so lethal is because their depth is unrivaled by any team in the league, and Nichuskin is a great example. He scored his sixth goal of the postseason when he fired a shot through Vasilevskiy’s legs in the first period, and assisted on the winning goal with the presence of spirit to pass a decent shot to give the his partner, Burakovsky. , a big. After falling to the ground at the start of the second round in Colorado a year ago, Nichuskin has raised his game this year, making the Avalanche a much more dangerous team.