TAMPA – The Colorado Avalanche know the Stanley Cup will be in the building and they will have a chance to win it in the fifth game of the Stanley Cup final against the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Ball Arena on Friday (20:00 ET; ABC, ESPN +, CBC). , SN, TVAS).
But as difficult as it is, the Avalanche is trying not to think about potentially celebrating with the Ice Cup at home.
“I feel like every series is always, ‘The next game is the most important,'” Colorado defender Cale Makar said Thursday. a confident group.
“Obviously we have a great opportunity here to get something fantastic for the team, but at the end of the day we just have to focus on ourselves and play our game and then wherever that takes us, it takes us.”
Colorado took a 3-1 lead in the series to the best of 7 and closed out its first championship since 2001, when center-back Nazem Kadri scored 12:02 in overtime for the 3-2 victory in the game 4 in Tampa Bay on Wednesday. It was an emotional end with Kadri being the hero of his return after missing four games after hand surgery.
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The Avalanche has been good to enjoy those moments during the Stanley Cup playoffs, however, and then move on to the next task. In this case, it is trying to end the Lightning, who have been resilient in their bid to win the Cup for the third consecutive season.
Tampa Bay was ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 in the first round and won the last two games of that series, including the sixth game in overtime, to advance. The Lightning then lost the first two games of the Eastern Conference Finals to the New York Rangers before winning again in six games for their 11th consecutive playoff win.
“We know what’s at stake, but at the same time, what Tampa is [Bay] will bring and will have to put other emotions aside and focus on the game we have, ”Avalanche striker Darren Helm said.“ As Cale said, we have a group that believes, but we also know Tampa will play their best game. So we have to put all that outside noise aside and focus on what we have to do tomorrow. “
Colorado closed out the first round against the Nashville Predators and the Western Conference Finals against the Edmonton Oilers in their first attempts to sweep each series. The exception was a 5-4 loss in overtime to the St. Louis Cardinals. Louis Blues in Game 5 of the second round.
Leading 3-1 in this series, the Avalanche jumped to a 3-0 lead in the second period of Game 5 and advanced 4-3 with 2:46 by the end of the third period, but was unable to close the match and lost in central Tyler Bozak’s goal 3:38 in overtime. But Colorado regrouped two days later in the sixth game, when they came back from losing twice and winning 3-2 to advance.
“I like the way we closed the series,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “I think the hardest, and the one we had to recover against the Blues, was a very hard defeat at home and we went there in their building and played really well. Then the other series in Edmonton we had to Vam going back to Game 4 and we did a good job of keeping up the effort and playing with our identity.Really, every playoff we’ve been trying to do.Some nights are better than others.
“But I don’t see why we wouldn’t go out and try to play with our identity.”
Teams taking a 3-1 lead in a Cup final in the top 7 are winning the series 35-1 (.972). The 1942 Maple Leafs are the only team that came together from such a hole in the Cup final; they returned from a 3-0 loss to the Detroit Red Wings.
Helm was in a similar position with the Red Wings during the 2008 Stanley Cup final against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Detroit led 3-1 in that series with a chance to win the Cup at home in Game 5, but lost 4-3 in the triple overtime before bouncing back to a 3-2 victory in the 6th game in Pittsburgh to win the Stanley Cup.
“It’s an opportunity, but like what we’ve been saying, it’s a great game that we just have to focus on what we have to do,” Helm said. “I think we’re not thinking about anything beyond the game itself. Play as hard as we can, get ready and let things take care of themselves.”