The Colorado Avalanche defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 2 to 1 on Sunday, winning the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Finals, the National Hockey League’s championship, four games to two. They overcame a controversial penalty call in Game 5 and a 1-0 deficit early in Game 6 to secure the team’s first Stanley Cup victory since 2001.
Twenty-three-year-old defenseman Cale Makar was unanimously selected as the Conn Smythe Trophy for most valuable player in the playoffs. He racked up 8 goals and 21 assists during the playoffs. Veteran center Nathan MacKinnon accrued 13 goals and 11 assists during the playoffs.
After a solid regular season, journeyman goaltender Darcy Kuemper had a mixed performance in the playoffs including a Game 3 Finals loss in which he gave up five goals on 22 shots. Kuemper stepped up Game 6, however, blocking 22 out of 23 Tampa Bay shots on goal.
The Avs denied the Lightning a chance at a third consecutive Stanley Cup win. The Lightning were trying to win three in a row for the first time since the New York Islanders won four consecutive Finals from 1980-1983.
Like thunderclouds approaching a mountain overburdened with snow, the Avalanche and the Lightning seemed destined to meet in the 2022 Stanley Cup Finals. Colorado racked up 56 wins during the regular season, narrowly missing the Presidents’ Trophy for best regular-season record. The Lightning are a perennial powerhouse, having made it at least as far as the Eastern Conference Final six out of the last eight seasons.
Even the best teams rarely have an easy path through hockey’s second season, but the two teams’ road was less difficult than most. Only one playoff series the two teams participated went to seven games, when the Toronto Maple Leafs pushed the Bolts to the brink of eliminations during first round. Colorado swept an overmatched Edmonton Oilers team in the Western Conference Final. Tampa Bay defeated the New York Rangers in six games to take the Prince of Wales Trophy.
The Colorado Avalanche underwent a painful rebuild to reach this point. They were the worst team in the league in 2016-2017 season. But general manager Joe Sakic (a Hall-of-Fame Avalanche player) stuck with rookie coach Jared Bednar and picked up Makar in the 2017 draft. Sakic then made a series of shrewd moves that slowly improved the team over the next few years. He acquired forwards Andre Burakovsky and Nazem Kadri and goalie Kuemper, among others, through trades.
The Avalanche are poised to compete for the Cup for years to come. Few of their players are on the wrong side of 30. Time will tell if they can go back-to-back, as Tampa Bay did. But the Lightning aren’t going away, either, led by captain Steven Stamkos. Hockey fans may witness this elemental clash again in future playoffs.
