Steven Stamkos scored the only goal in a shootout, Andrei Vasilevskiy had 43 saves and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-3 in a Stanley Cup Final rematch in Denver on Tuesday night.
Anthony Cirelli, Nikita Kucherov and Vladislav Namestnikov scored goals for the Lightning.
Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist, Artturi Lehkonen and Denis Malgin also had goals and Alexandar Georgiev turned away 32 shots for Colorado.
Stamkos beat Georgiev on the first chance in the shootout and Vasilevskiy made saves on MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen to help Tampa Bay sweep the season series with the Avalanche. The Lightning won their other matchup 5-0 at home last Thursday.
Colorado took a 1-0 lead just 50 seconds into the game when MacKinnon fed Lehkonen in the left circle, and Lehkonen’s one-timer beat Vasilevskiy for his 16th goal of the season.
MacKinnon made it 2-0 when he fought off a Lightning defender and tipped in a pass from Bowen Byram at 6:21 of the second period. It was his 17th goal of the season.
Tampa Bay finally broke through when it got an odd-man rush later in the second. Brayden Point fed Kucherov as he skated down the left side, and Kucherov tapped the puck by Georgiev at 13:09. It was his 21st goal of the season.
The Lightning tied it early in the third period when Stamkos passed it to Cirelli at the top of the left circle, and Cirelli’s one-timer fluttered by Georgiev at 0:26 for his sixth goal of the season.
The Avalanche went back in front just 1:37 later when Malgin came off the bench, picked up a loose puck and wristed it by Vasilevskiy at 2:03. It was Malgin’s third goal of the season and first with Colorado, who acquired him in a trade with Toronto in December.
Namestnikov answered 2:07 later when he stole a puck in front of the Avalanche net, deked Georgiev and slid a backhander in at 4:10. It was his fifth goal of the season.
Colorado nearly won it late in regulation, but Vasilevskiy made a save on J.T. Compher in the final two minutes. Georgiev had to make a save on Kucherov in the final minute to send it to overtime.
–Field Level Media
