3 Keys: Avalanche at Lightning, Game 4 of Stanley Cup Final

Avalanche (1C) at Lightning (3A)
8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, CBC, SN, TVAS
Colorado leads best-of-7 series 2-1

The Tampa Bay Lightning can even the Stanley Cup Final with a victory in Game 4 against the Colorado Avalanche at Amalie Arena in Tampa on Monday.
Tampa Bay will look to build on a 6-2 victory in Game 3 on Monday but realizes it has work to do after losing the first two games of the best-of-7 series at Colorado, including a 7-0 defeat in Game 2. The Lightning are trying to become the first team to come back from a 2-0 series deficit in a best-of-7 series in consecutive Stanley Cup Playoffs rounds after completing the comeback in the Eastern Conference Final against the New York Rangers.
"I think after Game 2, we had nowhere else to go but up, but how do we stay up?" Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "We dug ourselves a little bit of a hole in Colorado. We've been through this before, so there wasn't much talked about and we understand that one win is one win, but that's the past. Just like a 7-0 loss is in the past. … We're looking at what's in front of us and the challenge is a team that is probably going to come out pretty determined."
Colorado will look to rebound after its seven-game winning streak ended in Game 3. For the first time in the Cup Final, the Avalanche need to make adjustments, but they feel good about where they stand in the series.
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"I think if you look at it, we are still in the driver's seat," defenseman Erik Johnson said. "It's up 2-1 for us and we knew coming in here that it would be tough to win both games. I think the way they've played at home and the way they responded after a lot of losses in the playoffs that they were going to come with their best game. … So for us to get the split, we'd be sitting pretty good. We'd be happy with it."
The home team won each of the first three games of the series. Tampa Bay has won eight straight at home and is 8-1 in the playoffs at Amalie Arena. Game 3 was the Avalanche's first road loss of the playoffs (7-1).
Teams that take a 3-1 lead in a best-of-7 Cup Final are 35-1 (97.2 percent) winning the series. The 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs are the lone team to rally from such a deficit in the Cup Final. They came back from 3-0 down against the Detroit Red Wings.
Teams that lead 3-1 in a best-of-7 series in any round are 298-31 (90.6 percent) winning the series, including 2-1 this postseason.
Here are 3 keys to Game 4:

1. Kadri's potential return

Although Avalanche coach Jared Bednar wouldn't say if Nazem Kadri (hand surgery) will play for the first time since being injured in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final against the Edmonton Oilers, the forward participated in the morning skate and worked with the second power-play unit. Kadri also did not remain on the ice with Colorado's extra players after the skate and forward Nicolas Aube-Kubel, who played in Game 3 of the Cup Final, did.
Kadri, who has 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in 13 games in the playoffs, has been working hard in his recovery and his return would give Colorado a boost at a pivotal moment.
"If he can do all the functions that it takes to play a hockey game and he's feeling comfortable with it, then he's a guy we would put back in," Bednar said. "He's been skating. The legs feel good. It's just about managing, I guess, the pain he's dealing with."

2. Be special

The Avalanche power play is 5-for-11 in the Cup Final, including 2-for-4 in Game 3. The Lightning power play is 1-for-12 on the man-advantage but scored its first power-play goal of the series in Game 3, when it went 1-for-6.
Tampa Bay's penalty kill needs to tighten up after allowing 10 power-play goals on 27 chances (63 percent) in the past two rounds against Colorado and the New York Rangers. One area the Lightning can improve is on shorthanded face-offs (37.8 percent).
"I think we have a few clears, face-offs can be a little bit more dialed in and the small mistakes kind of cost us big time right away," Lightning forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare said. "So we're going to have to make sure we are on our details and pretty close to picture perfect as we can be."

3. Kuemper or Francouz?

Bednar wouldn't reveal if Darcy Kuemper or Pavel Francouz would start in net, but the signs again point to Kuemper, who was in the starter's nets for the morning skate. Colorado won the first two games with Kuemper in net, including his 16-save shutout in a 7-0 win in Game 2, but he was pulled in the second period of Game 3 after allowing five goals on 22 shots.
Kuemper has been inconsistent in the playoffs, going 8-3 with a 2.76 goals-against average, .892 save percentage and one shutout. So temptation to switch to Francouz, who stopped 10 of 11 shots in relief in Game 3, is understandable.
"We have two good goalies and Darcy's our starter and we rally with him all the way," Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen said.
Francouz is 6-0 with a 2.81 GAA, .906 save percentage and one shutout in the playoffs, including 4-0 with a 2.81 GAA, .908 save percentage and one shutout in the Western Conference after Kuemper left Game 1 with an upper-body injury.
Avalanche projected lineup
Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Valeri Nichushkin
Nicolas Aube-Kubel -- J.T. Compher -- Mikko Rantanen
Alex Newhook -- Darren Helm -- Artturi Lehkonen
Andrew Cogliano -- Nico Sturm -- Logan O'Connor
Devon Toews -- Cale Makar
Jack Johnson -- Josh Manson
Bowen Byram -- Erik Johnson
Darcy Kuemper
Pavel Francouz
Scratched:Justus Annunen, Ryan Murray, Kurtis MacDermid, Jacob MacDonald, Jayson Megna
Injured:Samuel Girard (sternum), Nazem Kadri (thumb), Andre Burakovsky (hand)
Lightning projected lineup
Ondrej Palat -- Steven Stamkos -- Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel -- Anthony Cirelli -- Alex Killorn
Ross Colton -- Nick Paul -- Corey Perry
Patrick Maroon -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Riley Nash
Victor Hedman -- Jan Rutta
Ryan McDonagh -- Erik Cernak
Mikhail Sergachev -- Zach Bogosian
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Brian Elliott
Scratched:Cal Foote, Fredrik Claesson
Injured:Brayden Point (lower body)

Status report

Burakovsky, a forward, is not with the Avalanche in Tampa and will not play. ... Kucherov is expected to play after leaving in the third period of Game 3 with a lower-body injury.