Upon his return to the game, Nazem Kadri put the champions of the last two Stanley Cups on the brink by scoring the game-winning goal in overtime on Wednesday at Tampa Bay.
Kadri thus played the heroes and the Colorado Avalanche took the measure of the Lightning 3-2. The Avalanche will have the opportunity to lift their first Stanley Cup in 21 years on Friday in Colorado. Jared Bednar’s men have a 3-1 series lead.
Kadri returned to action after missing the last four games with a thumb injury. He was injured when Evander Kane threw him towards the boards in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals.
Forward Nicolas Aubé-Kubel was dropped from the lineup to make way for Kadri. In the victory, Nathan MacKinnon finally opened his counter in the series. Andrew Cogliano also flickered the red light.
Anthony Cirelli and Victor Hedman hit the target for the Lightning. Darcy Kuemper stopped 37 shots, while Andrei Vasilevskiy made 35 saves.
Nikita Kucherov, who had not finished the last duel between the two teams, started the meeting, which is not the case for his teammate Brayden Point, inactive in a second game in a row.
Spectators in suspense
The Lightning opened the scoring just 36 seconds after the initial face-off. Erik Cernak’s shot caused Kuemper’s mask to come off and the return fell past him. Cirelli pounced on the disc to push it into the net.
The referees did not hesitate for a moment to award the goal despite the fact that Kuemper had no more mask. The Lightning outshot the first period 17-4.
At the start of the middle period, the visitors leveled the mark. Taking advantage of a power play, a pass from Mikko Rantanen deflected off the skate of MacKinnon, who passed in front of the net, before finding a way behind Vasilevskiy.
Rantanen and Cale Makar each had their 20th playoff assist on the streak. Just five minutes later, the Lightning regained a one-goal lead. After a nice solo run, Hedman beat Kuemper with a backhand shot from the face-off circle.
As soon as the break to start the third period ended, the Avalanche’s fourth line brought everyone back to square one. Nico Sturm thought he would take advantage of a return in front of the net to score his first goal in an Avalanche uniform, but the puck was deflected by Cogliano.
Cogliano’s goal was the first the Lightning allowed at home 5-on-5 since Game 7 of the first-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, a 21-period streak.
After a few chances back and forth in overtime, O’Connor managed to sneak past the Lightning defense, but was stopped on the breakaway by Vasilevskiy.
A few shots hit Vasilevskiy’s net posts before Kadri stunned the Lightning in a bad change.
He beat the keeper with a shot into the top of the net. The officials took a moment before allowing the goal because the puck was hidden in the top of the cage.
The Canadian Press
Source: Radio-Canada
