(Tampa) Upon his return to the game, Nazem Kadri put the champions of the last two editions of the Stanley Cup on the edge of the abyss.
Posted at 11:46 p.m.
Kadri played hero in overtime and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 on Wednesday.
The Avalanche will have the chance to lift their first Stanley Cup in 21 years on Friday in Denver, Colorado. Jared Bednar’s men took a 3-1 series lead.
Kadri returned to action after missing the last four games with a thumb injury. He was injured when Evander Kane threw him towards the boards in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals.
Quebec forward Nicolas Aubé-Kubel has been dropped from the roster to make way for Kadri.
In the victory, Nathan MacKinnon finally opened his counter in the series. Andrew Cogliano also flickered the red light.
Anthony Cirelli and Victor Hedman hit the target for the Lightning.
Darcy Kuemper stopped 37 shots. His vis-à-vis, Andrei Vasilevskiy, made 35 saves.
Although star Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov didn’t finish the last duel between the two clubs, he started the game. His teammate Brayden Point, for his part, missed a second game in a row.
A meeting that kept the spectators spellbound
The Lightning opened the scoring just 36 seconds after the initial face-off. Erik Cernak’s shot caused Kuemper’s mask to come off and the return fell past him. Cirelli pounced on the disc to push it into the net.
The referees did not hesitate for a moment to award the goal despite the fact that Kuemper had no more mask.
Photo Mark J. Rebilas, USA TODAY Sports
Victor Hedman (77) was one of two players to hit the target for the Lightning.
The Lightning outshot the first period 17-4.
At the start of the middle period, the visitors leveled the mark. Taking advantage of a power play, a pass from Mikko Rantanen deflected off the skate of MacKinnon who went in front of the net before finding a way behind Vasilevskiy.
Rantanen and Cale Makar each collected their 20e playoff assist on the streak.
Just five minutes later, the Lightning regained a one-goal lead. After a great solo run, Hedman beat Kuemper with a backhand shot from the face-off circle.
Upon returning from the locker room to start the third period, the Avalanche’s fourth line brought everyone back to square one. Sturm thought he would take advantage of a return in front of the net to score his first goal in an Avalanche uniform, but the puck was deflected by Cogliano to hit the mark.
Cogliano’s goal was the first the Lightning allowed at home 5-on-5 since Game 7 of the first-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs — a 21-period streak.
After a few chances back and forth in overtime, O’Connor managed to sneak past the Lightning defense, but was stopped on a fumble by Vasilevskiy.
After a few shots that hit Vasilevskiy’s net posts, Kadri surprised the Lightning defense in a bad change and beat the keeper with a shot into the top of the net. The officials took a moment before allowing the goal because the puck was hidden in the top of the cages.