The reigning Stanley Cup champions might have been on the ropes. But the Tampa Bay Lightning, winners of consecutive titles, returned home and cut their two-game deficit down to one, defeating the Colorado Avalanche 6-2 in Monday's Game 3.
It wasn't just the two-game deficit in the Stanley Cup Final that had Lightning fans concerned; it's how the Avalanche had won. Colorado jumped out to early leads in both games and, in Game 2, absolutely dominated Tampa Bay. Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, one of the best postseason goalies in NHL history, was blitzed for seven goals on Saturday.
But on Monday, it was Colorado's goaltending feeling the pressure. Darcy Kuemper was pulled when Tampa Bay took a 5-2 lead past the halfway point of the second period.
Here's what went down as the Lightning got it done back on their home ice in Game 3.
https://c.realme.com/id/post-details/1539099764438945792
https://c.realme.com/id/post-details/1539100934427475968
https://c.realme.com/id/post-details/1539101641901703168
https://c.realme.com/id/post-details/1539102248821686272
https://c.realme.com/id/post-details/1539102878109892608
https://c.realme.com/id/post-details/1539103507008016384
https://c.realme.com/id/post-details/1539104180839731200
https://c.realme.com/id/post-details/1539104848522596352
https://c.realme.com/id/post-details/1539105915717124096
https://taplink.cc/verhdpleasurepeliculaenlineacompletapelicula2022
https://techplanet.today/post/ver-pleasure-2022-pelicula-completa-en-espanol-pelisplus
https://sway.office.com/2wKVbPJOpyK1lCvf
https://ceuvana.simdif.com/
https://instabio.cc/4062105C9DlNr
https://ceuvana.tumblr.com/post/687644392038825984/ver-online-pleasure-2022-pelicula-completa
The Avalanche hadn't lost since May 25 before falling 6-2 on Monday. They hadn't lost in the postseason by that large of a margin. Kuemper was pulled, putting a cloud over their goaltending. All that depth scoring dried up. It was all bad.
Tampa Bay was a force. It should have been an elating victory -- except the Lightning lost Nicholas Paul and Nikita Kucherov to apparent injuries in the process. Kucherov exited late in the third after getting tied up with Devon Toews along the boards. Paul left in the second period, right after scoring a goal.
It was the first road loss Colorado had suffered in the playoffs, but the Avs still lead the series 2-1. Tampa Bay remains perfect at home in the postseason. What does that foreshadow for Game 4 on Wednesday? Stay tuned. -- Kristen Shilton
Tampa Bay came to play
As Jon Cooper said before Game 3: "These guys are a heck of a team, but so are we. And we've been in these spots before."
He's right; the Lightning have been down before. They've been counted out before. And just like in those spots, reports of their demise in the Stanley Cup Final appear greatly exaggerated.
Just like the Lightning roared back from a 2-0 deficit on the road in the Eastern Conference Final, they look like a different team in Game 3 against the Avalanche. They mustered 16 shots in Game 2; they have pumped 26 shots on the Avalanche goal tonight. They have earned 50% of the shot attempts through two periods after getting just 29% of them in Game 2. They couldn't score on the power play in the first two games; they finally tallied one in Game 3. Their stars were kept in check in Denver; Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, Ondrej Palat and Victor Hedman all had multi-point games.
Oh, and perhaps most importantly: They scored six goals, to the Avalanche's two goals, and chased Colorado goalie Darcy Kuemper in the process.
"We've got to go out there and find our best game right now," said Pat Maroon before Game 3, in which he contributed a goal to the onslaught. "They haven't seen our best. So we're excited. Hopefully we can show them our best tonight."
Through 40 minutes, they showed something close to it. But there's still 20 minutes more and the Avalanche are one of the few teams that could bridge a four-goal gap. -- Greg Wyshynski