The Colorado Avalanche are the 2022 Stanley Cup champions.
Sunday’s Game 6 in Tampa Bay was close the entire way, as the Avs took their second shot at clinching Lord Stanley’s Cup. The Tampa Bay Lightning were able to strike first when Steven Stamkos scored only four minutes into the contest.
Little did we know, that would be the only goal of the night for the Bolts. Colorado was held off of the scoresheet in period one, but in the second period, the Avs struck twice.
Forward Nathan MacKinnon scored the first goal and assisted on the second, which turned out to be the Cup-clinching goal from Artturi Lehkonen. Goaltender Darcy Kuemper made 22 saves on the 23 shots he faced in the game.
The Avalanche have won the Stanley Cup.
After no goals were scored in the third period, the Avalanche used the 2-1 win to put the finishing touches on a historic season.
Colorado overcame several years of disappointments to come up with one of the most dominant postseasons in NHL history. With two sweeps and only four losses in total, the Avalanche were in control of each series they played.
Defenseman Cale Makar was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs, becoming the third defenseman to win it and the Norris Trophy in the same season.
He was unanimously given the award after scoring 29 points (eight goals and 21 assists) in 20 games, which is one of the best outputs by a defenseman over the last several decades.
This win is huge for many reasons. The Lightning have played nearly perfect hockey in the last three seasons, so it was going to take a team as complete and as dangerous as the Avalanche to knock them off.
Plus, with some shortcomings in the postseason, another loss could have led to changes for the team. That doesn’t matter now, as the Avs are exactly where they were built to be: on top of the NHL world as champions.
The Avalanche built this champion through young stars and quality veterans, and now they’re poised to make 2022 the start of their dominance, rather than the peak of their powers.
The 2022 Stanley Cup Final lived up to the hype, and after six entertaining games, the NHL has a new champion.