DENVER – For the first time in 21 years, the Colorado Avalanche have won the Stanley Cup. On Sunday Colorado beat the two-time defending champions, the Tampa Bay Lightning, to bring Colorado its first major sports title since 2016.
Nathan Mackinnon (29) battles for position with Ryan McDonagh (27)
How did we get here? Let’s take a look back on Colorado’s road to their championship.
Regular Season:
After another disappointing postseason in 2021, Colorado looked to make some moves to help them move deeper into the playoffs. Darcy Kuemper and Anthony Cogliano were added to the 2021-2022 roster, making the Avalanche early favorites to win the Stanley Cup. Arturi Lehkonen was acquired from Montreal near the trade deadline as Colorado added depth to their roster.
Colorado rolled through the regular season, earning 119 points and the top seed in the Western Conference.
First Round:
Colorado’s first-round opponent was a familiar foe. Colorado faced the Nashville Predators four times in the regular season, going 1-1-2. This time, injuries would hinder Nashville’s chances of advancing and Colorado would sweep the series, but not without significant damage done to the team. Darcy Kuemper took a stick to the mask, injuring his eye and forcing his early exit from the game. Pavel Fransouez came in to finish the series.
Second Round:
Following the sweep and having some time to rest, Colorado saw their first major test of the postseason with the St. Louis Blues. The Blues had just finished a hard 6 games against the Minnesota Wild.
St. Louis and Colorado split the first two games in Denver before Colorado took command of the series in St. Louis. Colorado lost defenseman Samuel Girard in game 3 after he was checked hard into the boards.
That would not be the only story to come out of game 3. Nazem Kadri collided with goaltender Jordan Binnington while chasing a loose puck, leaving the goalie unavailable for the rest of the series with a lower-body injury.
Colorado went on to win the series in 6 games, moving on to the Western Conference Final against the Edmonton Oilers.
Western Conference Final:
A highly anticipated matchup between two of the highest-scoring offenses in the Western Conference. Connor McDavid vs. Nathan MacKinnon, the stage was set.
Edmonton scored first to set the tone of the series. That lead was short-lived as Colorado would score 8 goals in the game to win 8-6.
Colorado got a huge performance from Pavel Fransouz, who shut out the Oilers in a 4-0 victory. This a day before his 32nd birthday.
The series shifted back to Edmonton as the Oilers tried to get out of the 0-2 series hole. Connor McDavid scored less than a minute into game 3 and the Oilers held that lead for most of the period. Colorado answered late in the first to tie the game and went on to win 4-2. Colorado didn’t come away from this win unscathed. Nazem Kadri broke his thumb after a hit from Evander Kane put Kadri into the boards. Kadri would miss the remainder of the series.
With their back against the wall, Edmonton took game 4 to overtime. Lehkonen, who had scored a game-winning goal last year to send the Montreal Canadiens to the Stanley Cup Final, produced again and capped off the sweep of the Oilers.
Stanley Cup Final:
Twelve wins down, and four to go, the Avalanche were up against the two-time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning. A big question for Colorado before game 1 of the series was who will start in net? Darcy Kuemper appeared to be healthy and ready for the series, but Fransouz had played well in the last series against Edmonton. Kuemper got the start in game 1.
Colorado started quick, scoring three goals in the first period, only to watch that lead evaporate late in the third. Ondrej Palat and Mikhail Sergachev scored two goals within a minute to tie the game at 3. In overtime, it didn’t take long for Andre Burakovsky to put in the game-winner and give Colorado a 1-0 series win.
Game 2 was all Avalanche. Kuemper recorded a shutout, facing only 16 shots. Colorado put up 7 goals on Andrei Vasilevskiy and took a 2-0 series lead.
In game 3, Tampa Bay needed a comeback and they did it in a huge way. Two nights after allowing 7 goals, the Lightning scored 6 to win 6-2.
With each team getting a blow-out victory in the previous two games, it was only fitting that game 4 went to overtime. This time Colorado’s hero was Kadri who had returned only 16 days after breaking his thumb in the Edmonton series. Game 4 did not end without controversy. Colorado appeared to have too many men on the ice before Kadri scored the game-winner. Officials on the ice did not make a call and Colorado took a 3-1 lead back to Denver.
The series came back to Denver for game 5. Another close game, but one that Colorado did not see a lead. Tampa Bay won, setting up game 6 in Tampa.
Game 6 delivered with the excitement the series had been building to this point. Steven Stamkos scored early in the game to give Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead in the first period. Colorado tied the game in the second period with a shot from MacKinnon and took the lead after a goal from Lehkonen. Colorado kept Tampa Bay to 10 shots on net or less in each period and the Avalanche peppered Vasilevskiy with 30 shots.
“There’s a huge sense of satisfaction. Relief is part of it right away when I heard the buzzer go,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “I’m just so proud. Really, honestly, I’m just so proud and excited for our guys to get rewarded.”
“We just met our match in this series,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “But I hope people think of this team and write about this team for years to come for what they’ve gone through in the last three years.”
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