It was the dominating performance that Tampa Bay needed following the pair of losses in Denver. Five skaters registered multi-point nights and Andrei Vasilevskiy looked like himself with 37 saves on 39 Colorado shots.
One area where the Avalanche had the advantage was on special teams. Both Colorado goals came with the man advantage, while the Lightning were 1-for-6 on the power play.
Tampa Bay will try to level the series when the series resumes with Game 4 back at AMALIE Arena on Wednesday.
Scoring Summary
1st Period
COL 1, TBL 0
8:19 Gabriel Landeskog (10) - Mikko Rantanen, Cale Makar - PPG
For the third-straight game, Tampa Bay conceded the opening goal to fall into an early deficit. With the Avalanche on a power play midway through the first period, Mikko Rantanen's shot from the right circle was stopped by Andrei Vasilevskiy, but Gabriel Landeskog was able to get positioning in the blue paint and jam the puck over the line.
COL 1, TBL 1
13:03 Anthony Cirelli (2) - Pat Maroon
On the rush, Anthony Cirelli played give-and-go with Pat Maroon at the offensive blue line to create space for a drive to the net off the left wing. It looked like Cirelli would try to pull the puck to his backhand as he cut across the face of goal, but instead put it on net and through Darcy Kuemper.
TBL 2, COL 1
14:54 Ondrej Palat (10) - Steven Stamkos
Less than two minutes later, Ondrej Palat gave the Bolts their first lead of the series when he beat Kuemper from the slot at 14:54 of the period. Palat left the puck for Steven Stamkos at the top of the right circle and headed for the middle of the ice. Stamkos sent a return feed his way and Palat buried his 10th goal of the postseason.
2nd Period
TBL 3, COL 1
1:26 Nick Paul (5) - Ross Colton
A Jan Rutta dump in couldn't be controlled by the Avalanche, giving the Lightning's forecheck a chance to go to work. Ross Colton intercepted a wayward pass along the near wall and fed Nick Paul open in the slot. Paul took a moment to settle the puck before firing it past Kuemper to open a two-goal Lightning lead.
TBL 3, COL 2
4:43 Gabriel Landeskog (11) - Cale Makar, Mikko Rantanen - PPG
Landeskog's second power play strike of the night briefly made it a one-goal game again. With time and space, Landeskog walked to the top of the left circle and beat Vasilevskiy with a wrist shot.
TBL 4, COL 2
7:52 Steven Stamkos (10) - Nikita Kucherov, Zach Bogosian
Just over three minutes later, Tampa Bay answered back courtesy of The Captain. In one motion, Stamkos spun in the slot to collect a Nikita Kucherov feed and fired a shot high on Kuemper as he fell to the ice.
TBL 5, COL 2
11:15 Pat Maroon (4) - Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman
The Lightning's lead grew to three just past the midway point of the period with Pat Maroon showing off his touch in front of the net. Off a feed from Kucherov, Maroon walked his way down the goal line and lifted a backhander upstairs on Kuemper. That would spell the end of the night for Kuemper, as the Avs made the change to Pavel Francouz between the pipes.
TBL 6, COL 2
14:58 Corey Perry (6) - Ondrej Palat, Victor Hedman - PPG
Tampa Bay welcomed Francouz to the Stanley Cup Final with a power play goal at 14:58. Victor Hedman's shot from the point was tipped on net by Ondrej Palat, but the puck hit the far post and sat in the blue paint behind Francouz. Corey Perry was the first to locate the puck and sweep it home to cap a dominating second period from the Bolts.
3rd Period
No Scoring
