Mishkin's Extra Shift: Avalanche 2, Lightning 1 - Game 6

Congratulations to the Colorado Avalanche for winning the 2022 Stanley Cup. They are a phenomenal team and played at a championship level throughout the playoffs.

Lightning fans can be proud of their team. Not just for what they accomplished in capturing back-to-back Cups over the past two seasons, but also for how much they gave, battled, and sacrificed this year in their drive to win a third in a row. The Lightning left it all out on the ice.
By the third period, the Lightning were not playing with the same pace as they showed in what was a highly-entertaining first period. Both the Lightning and Avs were skating fast and playing fast. The Lightning opened the scoring when Nikita Kucherov's forechecking pressure forced a turnover from Cale Makar deep in the Colorado end. The puck banked off Ondrej Palat's skate directly to Steven Stamkos, who slipped an in-alone shot through the pads of Darcy Kuemper. The rapid pace of play was also crisp - the initial TV timeout, which is supposed to occur with the first whistle after six minutes have been played, didn't happen until there were less than six minutes left in the period. Meaning that, outside of a couple of icing infractions on Colorado, the teams played mostly whistle-free hockey through the middle part of the period.
It was the third straight game in which the Lightning netted a first period goal and took a 1-0 lead into the second. But as they did in the previous two contests, the Avs tied things in the second. And unlike in Games Four and Five, Colorado netted the next goal as well. The Avs scored those two goals while carrying play for the majority of the second. They titled the ice and forced the Lightning to play much of the period in the d-zone.
While the Avs dictated more of the play in the middle period, they received some breaks on both of their goals. On Nathan MacKinnon's tying tally, which came during a delayed penalty call on Tampa Bay, the Lightning felt that the play should have been blown dead. Nick Paul played the puck towards the defensive blue line, just as the referee in the neutral zone raised his hand to indicate there was a penalty. Although the Lightning protested that the whistle should have stopped play when Paul touched the puck, they lost the argument and the goal was allowed to stand.
On Artturi Lehkonen's eventual game-winner. Josh Manson hooked down Pierre-Edouard Bellemare in the Colorado end, leading to a three-on-two rush for the Avs. There was no penalty called on the play. Then, MacKinnon's return pass to Manson banked off the skate of Ryan McDonagh and caromed perfectly to Lehkonen on the other side of the ice. Lehkonen one-timed the puck home at 12:28 of the second.
From that point onward, the Lightning generated very little offensively. They weren't able to replicate the fast pace they set in the first. Colorado defended well without the puck, closing on Lightning puck carriers. The Avs also helped their team defense by possessing the puck for long stretches in the offensive zone. Still, the Lightning had some isolated looks. Kucherov missed the net on an early third period two-on-one with Corey Perry. Later in the third, Kuemper made a save on a Kucherov one-timer, effectively moving from his right to left in time to stop the puck. And Kuemper's final two saves of the game were tough ones. They came when the Lightning had pulled Andrei Vasilevskiy for an extra attacker. He turned aside an Alex Killorn tip from close range and a Paul one-timer from the slot.
But in the end, the Lightning simply could not generate enough sustained pressure once they fell behind. Following Lehkonen's goal, they managed to post just six SOG over the final 27:32.
I'll have a full series recap coming in the next few days.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Phil Esposito):
1. Nathan MacKinnon - Avalanche. Goal and assist.
2. Andrei Vasilevskiy - Lightning. 28 saves.
3. Artturi Lehkonen - Avalanche. Goal.