Avalanche Suffer 6-2 Loss to Lightning in Game 3

The Colorado Avalanche dropped a 6-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final on Monday night at Amalie Arena. The loss marked Colorado's first loss on the road during this postseason run. Colorado leads the best-of-seven series 2-1.

Gabriel Landeskog scored two power-play goals for the Avalanche, while Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar handed out two assists apiece. Darcy Kuemper made 17 saves on 22 shots through 31:11 minutes before he was pulled in the second period. In relief, Pavel Francouz made nine saves on 10 shots through 26:56 minutes.
For Tampa Bay, Anthony Cirelli, Ondrej Palat (1G, 1A), Nick Paul, Steven Stamkos (1G, 1A), Patrick Maroon (1G, 1A), Corey Perry (power play) scored. Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman each recorded two assists. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 37 saves on 39 shots in the win.

GAME SUMMARY:

After a slow start and relinquishing its ninth-straight goal, Tampa Bay responded with a dominant performance in Game 3 including a four-goal effort in the second period.
The Bolts held a 2-1 lead over Colorado heading into the first intermission.
The Avalanche seemingly scored the first goal of the game on a strike from Valeri Nichushkin five minutes into the frame as the Russian winger grabbed a cross-slot pass from Nathan MacKinnon and lofted his shot far side of Vasilevskiy over the Bolts netminder's blocker. The goal was challenged by Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper for offsides and upon review, the call was confirmed offsides and the goal was overturned.
Shortly after, the Avalanche went to the box for an interference penalty on J.T. Compher at 5:50 and then Tampa took an offensive zone penalty at 7:09 for 51 seconds of 4v4. The Avalanche killed off Compher's penalty and capitalized on their own at 8:19. Cale Makar fed the puck out to the right faceoff circle where Mikko Rantanen fired a shot on net. Vasilveskiy made the stop, but the rebound bounced to the backdoor and Landeskog dove and pushed the puck off the goal line with his stick for the game's icebreaker.

Despite the 1-0 lead, the Lightning countered with two quick strikes off the rush to take the 2-1 lead. Cirelli made it a 1-1 game at 13:03 as the Tampa Bay centerman took the puck from his defensive zone, skated up ice and charged to the net before slipping the puck to the nearside of Kuemper.
Then, Tampa made the Avalanche pay for a neutral zone turnover as their top line of Palat, Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov executed a slick passing and screening sequence. Palat made the clean zone entry and dropped the puck back to Stamkos as Kucherov acted as a screen down the slot. Stamkos zipped the puck back to Palat across the slot and the Czech winger beat Kuemper at 14:54 to give Tampa the 2-1 lead.
The Bolts executed a four-goal effort with strikes from Paul, Stamkos, Maroon and Perry on the power play in the second period to take a 6-2 lead heading into the final frame.
Paul got the score started for the Bolts to extend their lead 3-1 at 1:26 into the second period. As Josh Manson tried to drop a pass back from the end boards, Ross Colton intercepted it and to drop it fed the puck across the slot and to Paul where he squeaked his shot over Kuemper's blocker.
At 4:43, Landeskog buried his second power-play goal of the night to pull the Avs within one goal as Colton took a hooking penalty at 4:03. The Colorado captain wired a shot over Vasilveskiy's blocker from atop the left faceoff circle.

The one-goal game didn't last long as Tampa pulled ahead at 7:52 with a strike from Stamkos. The Bolts top line utilized an extended offensive zone shift and from the side wall, Kucherov dropped a pass to Stamkos in the slot. The Bolts captain turned and fired his shot past Kuemper's glove.
At 8:58, Manson and Maroon took roughing penalties and shortly after the two minutes of 4v4 expired, the Bolts forced a turnover and Maroon grabbed a pass from Kucherov, drove to the net, went forehand-to-backhand and roofed his shot past Kuemper at 11:15. The goal ended Kuemper's night as he was pulled and replaced by Francouz.
Tampa Bay made it 6-2 at 14:58 with its first power-play goal of the series. Nico Sturm took a delay of game penalty as his attempted clear resulted in the puck flying in the stands. On the Lightning power play, a Victor Hedman shot was deflected off Palat's stick and snuck past Francouz where Perry put the puck past the goal line.
Neither team found the back of the net in the third period.

IN NET:

Kuemper made 17 saves on 22 shots through 31:11 minutes.
In the opening frame, the Avalanche netminder made 10 saves on 12 shots. Kuemper came up with a strong sequence on back-to-back chances early in the game about 2:30 into play as Ross Colton tested him with a shot from the inner right faceoff circle and after making the stop, Paul attempted a shot from the slot, but Kuemper got his right shoulder on it to turn it aside.
Kuemper made seven saves on 10 shots in the second period and was pulled following Maroon's second-period strike and in his place, Francouz took over and made four saves on five shots in the frame and nine saves on 10 shots through 26:56.

NOTEWORTHY:

• Landeskog scored his 10th and 11th goals of the playoffs.
• Francouz made his Stanley Cup Final debut.
• Colorado finished the game 2-for-4 on the power play and 5-for-6 on the penalty kill.
• Nicolas Aube-Kubel returned to the lineup in place of Andre Burakovsky, who is being evaluated for an undisclosed injury the winger sustained in Game 2.
• Burakovsky, Ryan Murray, Kurtis MacDermid, Justus Annunen, Nazem Kadri (upper body) and Samuel Girard (upper body) were scratches for Colorado.

NEXT GAME:

The 2022 Stanley Cup Final continues in Tampa between Colorado and the Lightning with Game 4 scheduled on Wednesday night at Amalie Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 6 p.m. MT.