The reigning Stanley Cup champions might be on the ropes. The Tampa Bay Lightning, winners of consecutive titles, return home, down 2-0 to the Colorado Avalanche.
It’s not just the two-game deficit in the Stanley Cup Final, it’s how the Avalanche have won. Colorado jumped out to early leads in both games, and in Game 2, absolutely dominated Tampa. Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, one of the best postseason goalies in NHL history, was blitzed for seven goals on Saturday.
The seven-goal margin in Game 2 is the largest shutout in a Cup Final game in the last 30 seasons, according to ESPN Stats and Information. It was the third time in this postseason that Tampa had allowed four or more goals after not doing so in either of the previous two postseasons.
“Does it suck losing a game like that? For sure. We’re not used to it. It doesn’t really happen to us,” Tampa coach Jon Cooper said.
Vasilevskiy allowed nine goals in the first two games of the Eastern Conference Finals against the New York Rangers and the Lightning still managed to win that series. So there’s still hope.
Will the home ice make a difference or will the Colorado scoring barrage continue? We’ll find out in Game 3.
Tampa Bay is down but not out
Is the situation ideal? Nope. Is the series over? Far from it. Will this Lightning hype video have Tampa Bay fans ready to run through a wall before puck drop? Probably.
Rewrite the story. ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/AwMiVyTMrY
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) June 20, 2022