The Colorado Avalanche rallied from a 2-1 third interval deficit to face only one win away from their third Stanley Cup in franchise historical past. Heart Nazem Kadri scored the game-winning objective at 12:02 of additional time, lifting the Avalanche to a 3-2 victory in Sport 4.
The end wasn’t with out some controversy because the puck appeared to get caught within the high of the online after it crossed the objective line. Kadri acquired the puck from teammate Artturi Lehkonen, weaved his method by the Tampa protection and beat goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy up excessive.
It was Kadri’s first sport since he suffered an damage in Sport 3 of the Western Convention Last in opposition to the Edmonton Oilers. Kadri was checked by Oilers ahead Evander Kane and needed to endure thumb surgical procedure.
Kadri grew to become the ninth participant in NHL historical past to attain an additional time objective in his Stanley Cup Last debut. The 31-year outdated additionally grew to become the primary to realize the feat in a sport that wasn’t Sport 1.
Wednesday’s sport additionally marked simply the second time that the Lightning misplaced at house through the 2022 postseason.
Previous to the additional body, Vasilevskiy made an preliminary save, however a Nico Sturm shot went off of Andrew Cogliano and into the online. The objective was initially credited to Sturm, nevertheless it was finally modified to Cogliano.
The Lightning opened the scoring for the primary time within the Stanley Cup Last. Lightning heart Anthony Cirelli scored simply 36 seconds into Sport 4 after he deposited a rebound previous Avalanche goaltender Darcy Kuemper off a shot from teammate Erik Cernak.
On the 5:17 mark of the second interval, winger Mikko Rantanen put the puck on web after receiving it from Nathan McKinnon. Vasilevskiy made the preliminary save on the Rantanen shot, however the rebound went off of the skate of MacKinnon and crossed the objective line. It was MacKinnon’s first objective of the Stanley Cup Last.
Simply over 5 minutes later, Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman gave his workforce a 2-1 lead. Hedman elevated a backhander simply over the pad of goalie Darcy Kuemper. It was the primary time that Hedman scored on a backhand shot all season.
The Avalanche will now have an opportunity to shut out the sequence at house in Sport 5, which will probably be performed on Friday. Colorado will probably be trying to win their first Stanley Cup since 2001.
