There will be a 6th game. The Tampa Bay Lightning entered a noisy Ball Arena and secured a convincing 3-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche in Game 5 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final. Consecutive champions are not over yet, all and enter the game in the series by 3-1. Colorado won Game 4 in overtime in Tampa. The Lightning returned the favor on Friday and secured that victory in Colorado.
As in Game 3, Lightning took a 1-0, 2-1 lead. This time, Jan Rutta and Nikita Kucherov scored the Tampa Bay goal, and Colorado entered the third period losing by one goal. However, the Avalanche did not take long to equalize, as a shot from Cale Makar received a favorable rebound on the skate of Lightning defender Eric Cernak to sneak in Tampa goalkeeper Andrei Vasilevskiy.
He was not shaken by the bad luck of the record, the Lighting continued to push and finally broke to take the lead. With 6:22 left in the game, Victor Hedman swung in the corner and found Ondrej Palat wide open. Palat did not miss a great opportunity to score, shooting a bullet through the legs of Colorado goalkeeper Darcy Kuemper.
No one expected this Lightning team to take over and give the Stanley Cup to the Avalanche, but that was an impressive victory. The Avalanche will try to finish the series again in the sixth game on Sunday night. The release of the album is scheduled for just after 8:00 pm ET.
Bolts Battle Back
No wonder the Lightning waged an incredible fight in Denver, but beating the Avalanche at home is a difficult task, especially with the fans foaming at the mouth for another Stanley Cup. Tampa Bay looked lost in Games 1 and 2, but the team struggled for three periods in Game 5.
The Lightning didn’t need any storms in the first period because, on their credit, there was no overwhelming push from the avalanche. Instead, it was a pretty even opening frame, and Tampa went into the locker room with an advantage. By far, the most impressive part of the Bolts ’demonstration was how they responded after allowing a third-period goal on an unfortunate rebound. Ball Arena was booing, and Vasilevskiy had to make a couple of important stops, but Tampa quickly turned on and scored the winning goal. The Lightning have gone through a lot of things, and there is simply no panic in this group. This was on display tonight.
The goalkeeper is the difference
This was the most evenly matched game in the series to date, and a goal made all the difference. This meant that a major Kuemper error rose to the scoreboard. Just looking at the shot count, Kuemper had a decent night. He stopped 26 of the 29 shots he faced, but Tampa Bay’s first goal was the one he has to stop if Colorado wants to finish that series. Rutta let out a seemingly harmless slap from the right circle, but slid between Kuemper’s glove and pad to turn on the light. Kuemper settled in later, but a mistake missed that game for the Avs. He’s had too many of those slips throughout the postseason, but he still hasn’t really cost Avs. His counterpart, Vasilevskiy, stopped 35 of the 37 shots against him while making another impeccable performance in the playoffs. I’ve said it before, but this goalie mismatch is Tampa’s best chance to win this Stanley Cup final.
Ondrej Palat is great again
Palat isn’t the biggest star in the NHL, but he certainly has a case for being the most important clutch. With another winning goal in Game 5, Palat wrote another chapter in his postseason heroic encyclopedia.
This third period was the 12th goal of Palat’s career in the winning playoffs, which dates back to 2014. According to Sportsnet, he ranks third among active players, just behind Joe Pavelski and Evgeni Malkin. This is not bad company. In each of Tampa Bay’s last two Stanley Cup races, Palat scored two winning goals, but this year he has outdone himself. This was Palat’s third win of the 2022 playoffs, and there is at least one more game to add to that total. Whatever the reason, when the game adjusts, Palat is the one who takes a step and gets it for the Lightning.