Colorado Avalanche

Betting preview and picks heading into Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday night between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Colorado Avalanche.

Greg Wyshynski, Senior NHL Writer: My favorite play for Game 2 is the Colorado Avalanche under 3.5 goals. My favorite play for Game 2 is Nathan MacKinnon over 4.5 shots. Sachin Dave Chandan, ESPN Betting Editor: Nathan MacKinnon's shot prop is set at O/U 4.5 (-145), which seems like an easy over for me.

Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final began in a similar fashion to Game 1. The Colorado Avalanche came out firing and built a quick lead on the Tampa Bay ...

Cale Makar: The second defenseman in NHL history to score both a shorthanded goal and power-play goal in the same— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) #StanleyCupFinal game. Maybe it's just me, but perhaps they should have considered doing that at some point before giving up a touchdown. That's the only drama left in this one. The only other instance was by Glen Wesley in the suspended game in 1988. KUEMPS— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/RIFga4YxaS June 19, 2022 That’s a SHUTOUT.— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/12qqz0FOT7 June 19, 2022 👋— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/fmr4gvcuc7 June 19, 2022 "No."— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/FO1fdaOfYp June 19, 2022 That game will begin at 8:00 p.m. ET on Monday, June 20. “In our room we have that humble mentality… Colorado tacked on two more in the third period, taking a 2-0 series lead in impressive fashion. It's too early to bury the Bolts, but they have looked completely outmatched in Denver.

The two-time defending champion Lightning are no strangers to making adjustments and bouncing back in a playoff series. Their biggest test begins with ...

The Lightning also expect Vasilevskiy to be better after allowing at least one soft goal and perhaps two in the opener. You want to know what is really going on these days, especially in Colorado. We can help you keep up. For Makar, it's about being better defensively than he was on Nikita Kucherov's move to set up a goal by Ondrej Palat in the series opener. “You can never really understand it until you feel it in the first game like that,” forward Nick Paul said Friday. "They definitely have speed throughout their lineup, and they love to go on the attack and hunt. The two-time defending champion Lightning are no strangers to making adjustments and bouncing back in a playoff series. A major emphasis from the coaching staff is putting speed bumps in the way however possible without taking an unnecessary interference penalty.

The Colorado Avalanche and Tampa Bay Lightning return with Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final at Ball Arena. Stick here for live updates during and after the ...

The Lightning will play with heavy urgency, knowing it is unlikely to pull a rabbit out of a hat like it did in the Eastern Conference Final (down 0-2 to the Rangers and won in six games). When you hit a penalty kill or a power play, you’re trying to win the two-minute game (but otherwise) we can kind of break it down and we have a good five minutes and we’re moving on to the next. Two more days for the Lightning to get acclimated to the altitude. He sustained a hand injury late in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals at Edmonton and underwent surgery soon after.– Mike Chambers At 6:08 of the first period, Burakovsky scored his second goal of the Stanley Cup Final, after notching an assist earlier in the period, on a rebound off Mikko Rantanen’s wrister from the wing. — Mike Chambers He was at the end of his shift but gained the puck in the neutral zone and could have gone on a semi-breakaway. Might be the best first period of the SEASON, although they produced 24 shots in a regular-season game. Short-handed. It. Does. Not. Matter. The Avalanche is completely dominating this game, with Cale Makar’s scintillating one-mane break leading to his first goal of the Stanley Cup Final and a 6-0 Avs lead in Game 2..(Insert gif of Apollo Creed’s trainer screaming to “throw in the damn towel!”) — Matt Schubert The Avs’ right winger is up to eight goals for this playoff run, and three in the first two games of this series, after his silky wrister gave Colorado a giddy 4-0 lead. It’s 5-0 Avs, and at this point it would take a collapse of epic proportions for them to not come away with the win tonight. Nicshuskin is on the final year of a two-year, $5 million deal worth a reported $2.5 million annually.

It would take an extra 1:23 of overtime to determine the outcome of Game 1 where Andre Burakovsky would win it for the Avs on home ice. His team was up 3-1 ...

Andre Burakovsky (95) - J.T. Compher (37) - Mikko Rantanen (96) Meanwhile, Nazem Kadri may be available for Games 3 and 4 as he’s been lightly working with a stick. His team was up 3-1 before letting in two straight goals in 48 seconds, so the Avs will look to clean it up and be better for the full 60 minutes, if not more.

Valeri Nichushkin and Cale Makar each scored twice as the Colorado Avalanche crushed the Tampa Bay Lightning 7-0 for a 2-0 series lead.

Winger Andre Burakovsky tallied a goal and two assists for the Avalanche, who are now within two victories of their first Stanley Cup title in 21 years. They are 14-2 overall this postseason, including 7-0 on the road. Valeri Nichushkin continued his sterling series with a pair of goals – he opened the scoring on a power play conversion in the first three minutes – and an assist and star defenseman Cale Makar added a power-play goal and short-handed goal in the third period for good measure.

The Tampa Bay Lightning needed a big showing in Game 2 as they sought to avoid falling down 2-0 to the Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley Cup Final.

But with Tampa now facing the task of having to win four of the next five games, it looks as though Lightning might not strike a third straight time in the Stanley Cup Final. But the Lightning was unable to get anything going and Colorado's penalty-killing unit again did its job. The Avalanche then went on a two-minute power play as the game neared the halfway point of the first period. Tampa Bay was had just one shot on goal in the first half of the period. Still, Tampa was struggling to get any type of consistency on the offensive end. Tampa's penalty-killing unit struggled in the last round and gave up an early goal in Game 1.

The Lightning are down 2-0 after a 7-0 loss, with the series now heading to Tampa. Here's what we'll be watching in Monday's Game 3.

Colorado is in total sync no matter who has the puck and that's allowing them to slip behind the (frequently undressed) Lightning. That would mean fewer chances for the Colorado forwards and more action in front of goaltender Darcy Kuemper. The Lightning scored the first goal in nine of those 11 games. Colorado has defensemen (i.e. Manson) who love joining the rush and know exactly when to do it. Colorado got Andrew Cogliano back in the lineup on Saturday, but there's still no word on whether Nazem Kadri will be available in the Final. The Avalanche will continue leaning on their depth in his absence, and those players have been stepping up so far. The Avalanche are rolling as the Lightning are reeling. The more Colorado continues to neutralize Tampa Bay's top skaters and receive handsome contributions from every line of its own, the better. In these playoffs, the Lightning were 6-1 when scoring the first goal. It was shocking, in a way, to see the Lightning appear so discombobulated. Or is it that the Lightning simply don't have the legs to keep up with Colorado? They wouldn't be the first team in these playoffs to realize it. The Avs are now 14-2 in the playoffs and have a plus-33 goal differential. Here's what we learned on Saturday night, and how it will impact the rest of the series.

Valeri Nichushkin and Cale Makar each score two goals as Colorado takes a two-game series lead.

AVALANCHE GOAL: Burakovsky scores on a rebound of a Rantanen shot into a wide-open net. Avalanche 2, Lightning 0 (7:55). Avalanche 1, Lightning 0 (2:54). Avalanche 5, Lightning 0. Makar added two goals, including a shorthanded score, in the third. Avalanche 4.

The Colorado Avalanche were so good in Saturday night's 7-0 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 2 that coach Jared Bednar had no real notes on how they ...

"I feel like we played to our identity to a 'T' tonight," Makar said. "It should be easy for us [going to Tampa]," he said. "Some days we shoot better than others and we play like we did tonight, and we don't get seven. Tonight, they did it better than we usually do." Tonight we shot really well, we created a lot of chances and our guys buried the chances that we got. "The number of goals, I don't get too excited [about]. I just think it's about the way we played," he said. That was the fewest shots Tampa Bay has generated in a playoff game this year. He added another on the power play to make it 7-0, becoming just the fourth player in NHL history to score shorthanded and on the man advantage in a Cup Final game. Less than three minutes into the third period Cale Makar added a shorthanded goal to the rout. Valeri Nichushkin had the Avalanche rolling early in the first period with a power-play goal, and then Josh Manson followed up with a one-timer past Vasilevskiy off the rush. "Coming out of Game 1 we were dangerous offensively, but I thought there was another step for our group. "It was certainly as close to perfect of a game as you can get from your players," Bednar said.

Valeri Nichushkin scored his seventh and eighth goals of the playoffs and continued to be the best player on the ice, Game 1 overtime hero Andre Burakovsky beat ...

The Lightning fell to 18-2 after a loss since the start of the first round in 2020. The Avs are inflicting plenty of pain on the Lightning, who resorted to some rough stuff after falling behind. After getting Andrew Cogliano back from missing the series opener with a right finger injury, the Avalanche lost Burakovsky again in the second period. “We got to our game, we skated from the drop of the puck and we just didn’t let up. Their aggressive forecheck led them to draw a penalty on veteran Ryan McDonagh, scoring on the ensuing power play when Burakovsky fed Nichushkin for his first of the night. Playoff MVP front-runner Cale Makar scored twice in the third period, inciting chants of “We want the Cup!” from a fired-up crowd.

SportsLine's Matt Severance has locked in his Stanley Cup Finals 2022 picks for Game 2 of Colorado Avalanche vs. Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.

Before finalizing any Lightning vs. Though he was not particularly sharp in Game 1, the 27-year-old goaltender ranks fourth among all netminders this postseason in both goals against average (2.36) and save percentage (.926). He also has done a good job making adjustments during a series. Denver outshot Tampa Bay, 38-23, and generated more quality scoring chances and forced Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy to make tremendous saves to send the game into overtime. Now, he has set his sights on Avs vs. Lightning odds. The loss was the third for Tampa Bay, the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion, in Game 1 of a series in this postseason.

The Colorado Avalanche dominated the Tampa Bay Lightning 7-0 in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals at Ball Arena in Denver on Saturday, June 18, 2022.

Adrian Dater - Kiss and Larry Bird fan. Writer with @Gambling and @Bookies, Avs Insider with 104.3 The Fan. Denver Post, SI, Bleacher Report alum, author of ...

You can forgive the 18,007 screaming Avalanche maniacs at Ball Arena for thinking otherwise tonight though. I almost wanted to lead this column with “Stick a fork in the Lightning. They’re Done.” But, you know, there’s the DaterJinx and all. The extra point tonight, by the way, was good.

Avalanche are two wins away from a Stanley Cup against Lightning, but not overconfident just yet.

You just hope it doesn’t happen in the Stanley Cup Final. We have a group that have been able to circle the wagons and respond. “If this becomes a common theme in the series, it’ll probably be a short one. So for us, it’s just coming to that kind of realization every single night,” he said, “Like I said in a previous question, they’re obviously a great team. Fans should hope this torrent of goalscoring and the inherent propensity to not give opponents an inch to continue. We have to weather that energy and excitement in this building for them and we should be okay.” It doesn’t really happen to us. “I don’t know about the perfect plan, but it was certainly as close to perfect of a game you can get from your players,” he said. They’re just playing at a much higher level than we are right now and I think it was evident watching that game tonight. But I never doubt the guys in the room. “Coming out of Game 1, we were dangerous offensively, but I thought that there was another step to it for group. “It was tough taking the penalty. They took Game 1 into overtime after a dreadful first period that saw them in a hole.

Valeri Nichushkin and Cale Makar each scored twice as the Colorado Avalanche crushed the Tampa Bay Lightning 7-0 for a 2-0 series lead.

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Ryan Clark can live with being banned from Avalanche home games right now. Because, dang it, The Lord and Cale Makar as his witnesses, he'd do it again, ...

The kind of laugh that would make everybody in the room smile.” “I’d call him all the time, ‘The Avs game is about to start.’ And he’d go, ‘(Expletive) you, man.’” He’s helping the boys so hard right now.” “He’s helping the boys out. “He’s like, ‘Oh, we’re going (to the game), bro, it doesn’t matter,’” Jake Kirschenheuter, another close friend, recalled. “Dude, I can totally respect that,” he said, then pointed to the concourse. And this (team) was his love more than anything else in the world.” A short while later, he got a letter from the team indicating that he would be banned from purchasing tickets for the remainder of the season. The Avs proceeded to win that night, 5-4, in overtime. “(We) really had come to the conclusion, myself and his stepdad, that one of us was probably going to end up in jail doing this. After a post-funeral conversation with Stark’s stepfather, Jason, he knew exactly what he wanted to do with his piece of one of the best friends he’d ever had. “This is the hockey version.

The Colorado Avalanche made a statement win against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game2 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

The bottom line is this: If they can continue to impose their will on the Lightning, the Colorado Avalanche could very well be the new Stanley Cup champions. Poor ice quality doesn’t favor a team like Colorado that relies on speed both on skates and on the puck. At the end of the game, he did the post-game interview in lieu of first-star Nichushkin. Emily Kaplan of ESPN asked if he was going to celebrate after tonight’s victory. Well, Colorado is on the brink of just that. However, seeing few shots sometimes negatively impacts a goalie because they have a hard time getting into the flow of the game. Even the Achilles heel of the Avalanche, their goalie, was flawless.

DENVER (AP) — Marinate on this for a quick moment: Colorado has 11 goals in the Stanley Cup Final so far, and not one from star forward Nathan MacKinnon.

“They’re going to throw everything they have at us the next game. That matches the Quebec/Colorado franchise record in a playoff year, which was set by Nordiques great Peter Stastny in 1982 and equaled by MacKinnon in 2020, according to NHL Stats. He can, though, star in the role he’s in. … Our team just seems to be really focused, dialed in and they’re hungry and they want to win.” He's realized that he can’t always be in the starring role. … We have to elevate our play.” He also had a goal in Game 2, his second of the postseason. Colorado has scored at least seven goals four times in this playoff run, the latest a 7-0 rout in Game 2. “Putting pucks in areas where you can neutralize their speed and not turning the puck over — not giving them freebies,” Stamkos said. “Certainly the fastest team that we played,” Tampa Bay forward Steven Stamkos said. This is a bunch that comes at you from all directions — no matter the name on the back of the jersey. “It’s no secret they’re a very fast team.”

DENVER (AP) — Marinate on this for a quick moment: Colorado has 11 goals in the Stanley Cup Final so far, and not one from star forward Nathan MacKinnon.

“They’re going to throw everything they have at us the next game. That matches the Quebec/Colorado franchise record in a playoff year, which was set by Nordiques great Peter Stastny in 1982 and equaled by MacKinnon in 2020, according to NHL Stats. He’s realized that he can’t always be in the starring role. He can, though, star in the role he’s in. … Our team just seems to be really focused, dialed in and they’re hungry and they want to win.” … We have to elevate our play.” He also had a goal in Game 2, his second of the postseason. Colorado has scored at least seven goals four times in this playoff run, the latest a 7-0 rout in Game 2. “Putting pucks in areas where you can neutralize their speed and not turning the puck over — not giving them freebies,” Stamkos said. “Certainly the fastest team that we played,” Tampa Bay forward Steven Stamkos said. “It’s no secret they’re a very fast team.” This is a bunch that comes at you from all directions — no matter the name on the back of the jersey.

SportsLine's NHL model has locked in its Stanley Cup Finals 2022 picks for Game 3 of Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Colorado Avalanche.

Avalanche in Game 3 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final? And which side of the money line has all the value? Tampa Bay is the first team in more than thirty years to reach the Stanley Cup Final in three straight seasons, and the Lightning won't be bothered by a 2-0 deficit. The Avalanche have dominated the entire Stanley Cup playoffs. Here are the NHL odds and betting trends for Lightning vs. Now, the model has its sights on Avs vs. Avalanche picks, check out the NHL predictions from the SportsLine Projection Model.

SportsLine's Matt Severance has locked in his Stanley Cup Finals 2022 picks for Game 3 of Colorado Avalanche vs. Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday.

Avalanche in Game 3 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final? And which critical x-factor makes one side hit hard? Lightning from every angle and is leaning over on the total. The Avalanche have netted five or more goals in half of those contests and recorded at least seven on four occasions. Offensively, Nikita Kucherov, who led the NHL in playoff scoring each of the last two years, is tied for third this postseason with 24 points. Now, he has set his sights on Avs vs. The Lightning again are down 0-2 in this series after being outscored 11-3 over the first two games in Colorado.

The Colorado Avalanche have a simple goal for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final: replicate how they played in a 7-0 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning in ...

We were dialed in to what we were supposed to do but then we shot the puck well. Our mindset is the exact same as it's been all playoffs." "Our mindset has been the same all year long, all playoff long, so what are we confident about? We know the job's going to be that much tougher going into Tampa." "We don't really think about the fact that they've been playing long seasons the last two years. "When [our] guys on offense are pressuring the way that they have, it's tough to play against.

Colorado shut out Tampa Bay 7-0 in Game 2 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final on Saturday night.

Early in the final frame, the Lightning were awarded their third power play of the night at 1:04 as Rantanen went to the box for tripping on Steven Stamkos. The Bolts had a shot ring off the crossbar, but shortly after the Avs countered and scored shorthanded. Cogliano replaced Nicolas Aube-Kubel in the lineup and skated alongside Nico Sturm and Alex Newhook. Despite pressure from Tampa Bay's Anthony Cirelli and Victor Hedman, Helm picked his spot and beat Vasilevskiy over his glove to further Colorado's lead 5-0 at 16:26. The Avalanche netminder only faced single digit shots in all three periods. Just 4:51 into the frame, Colorado executed a solid forechecking effort behind Tampa Bay's goal to chip the puck loose. Newhook posted his second assist on the play. Vasilevskiy made a right pad save, but the rebound kicked out into the slot where Burakovksy tapped the puck past the out-of-position Lightning netminder. He came up with five shots in the first period and seven shots in the second period as he came up with saves on all of them. Valeri Nichsuhkin and Cale Makar paced the Avalanche as they each scored twice. The Avalanche netminder continued to lock it down in the third period, where Kuemper came up with four saves in the frame and denied a third-period power play chance. As Makar and Cogliano jetted up ice on a two-on-one, Makar took his space, skated into the inside of the right faceoff circle and wired his shot to the far side past Vasilevskiy for the shorthanded strike to give Colorado a 6-0 lead at 2:04. The Avs cushioned their lead up to 5-0 heading into the final 20 minutes of play as Nichushkin scored his second goal of the game and Helm also found the back of the net.

In taking a 2-0 series lead against the two-time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup finals, Colorado's complete ascension to the top ...

But what confounded Cooper was the absence of pushback against a team that was zooming past his. After Game 1, which went to overtime, the Lightning spoke of getting a better understanding of how the Avalanche play. And with Makar scoring twice in Game 2, the Avalanche’s blue liners have 17 goals (seven by Makar) and 61 points in these playoffs, a record for Colorado defensemen. “We hung him out to dry,” Stamkos said. Tampa Bay has won 11 straight playoff series, but the Avalanche have the look of a different creature. But it was Colorado that enhanced its advantage with a new set of achievements. “There’s a fine line between having respect for your opponent and too much respect for your opponent,” Steven Stamkos, the captain of the Lightning, said. Led by a world-class playmaker, Nathan MacKinnon, and a transcendent, puck-moving defenseman, Cale Makar, the team also has a sizzling supporting cast. If so, a return to sea level for Games 3 and 4 could help. The question now: Can Tampa Bay revive itself, as it did in the Eastern Conference finals after the Rangers grabbed a short-lived 2-0 series lead? But they never intended to suggest the Avalanche were better. In Game 2, the challenger flew right on past.

There's still plenty of hockey to be played and still plenty to analyze. With that in mind, here are 15 observations heading into Game 3: 1. Darcy Kuemper faced ...

“That’s the mentality that we have (as a) team.” 13. Jack Johnson said Saturday that he graduated from University of Michigan this spring with a degree in general studies. “I thought he was exceptional,” Bednar said of the minutes he played in Game 2. He also had a pair of near-assists, including this pass to Gabriel Landeskog: So everyone’s just trying to stay focused, and (we’ve) still got a lot of work to do.” “He’s so driven,” Makar said after the game. Makar ended the man-advantage time with a tally. He played 21:58, which is down from the 27:51 he was averaging from the start of Round 2. “He’s a guy that kind of gets on these hot streaks and can be very dangerous offensively when he does get in those,” Bednar said. He had 12 in Game 2 to go along with a goal. Patrick Roy is the only goalie to make fewer saves in a Cup shutout: He stopped 15 pucks for the Canadiens in 1985-86. “So we’re hopeful we’re going to see him at some point.”

In the midst of the Stanley Cup Final, the Avs celebrate Father's Day and embrace the experience with their dads.

We're always talking about, if you're losing the game and you want to find the culprit, look in the mirror you will always find that. Especially given the success both Artturi and Rantanen have had to help the Avalanche reach the Final, which was clinched by an overtime goal in the WCF from Artturi in Game 4 against Edmonton. "Everyone in Finland expects that I'm half and half, but they started to realize of course that I'm on the Colorado wagon," Ismo said. And ahead of the series clinching Game 6 against St. Louis in the Second Round, he shared a text he had received from his dad prior to the game. This postseason run to the Final has afforded a surplus of opportunities for players to see their families and create new memories with those, like their fathers, who played such a pivotal role in their hockey careers. "I always call my mom before the games," Lehkonen said - which Ismo made a point to note that all Finnish boys are 'momma's boys'. "Sometimes my dad is home so he'll join and we chat a little about hockey, but we don't really talk about hockey too much. "We got dinner before the series," Lehkonen continued. So this year, is extra special as Ismo is covering his third Stanley Cup Final as an on-camera analyst, while watching his son in person. It's defensive and they can change their game in the middle of the game. "'Go win this game so I can come see my granddaughter,'" Manson recalled the text with visible emotion. "He was obviously such a big part of my career," Josh said. Francouz's father drove from Denver to Edmonton to watch his son play.

After Saturday's win, defenseman Cale Makar was asked if he and the team would be celebrating and Makar provided a one-word answer.

It is safe to say that the Avalanche are not going to get ahead of themselves. It shows that the Avalanche are in the “business as usual” mentality and they know that there is still work to be done. Per a stat from April 13th, the Lightning had 269 consecutive sellouts dating back to 2015.