The Tampa Bay Lightning bounced back in game three of the Stanley Cup finals to beat the Colorado Avalanche by a score of 6-2. Here are three observations from a dominating Tampa win.
- The Lightning simply out-muscled the Avalanche. Tampa out hit the Avs 40 to 27. A stark difference that simply changed the pace of play in the series. Where the first two games were Avalanche track meets, game three was a stark response to that. The lightning just made it a lot harder for Colorado to pick up speed in the neutral zone and this limited them from punishing them up the middle with their speed.
- Every Tampa goal was a thing of beauty. Whether it was Ondrej Palat’s beautiful weave with Steven Stamkos to the right slot for goal number two or Steven Stamkos’s beautiful steal and turnaround goal from the high slot the Lightning just scored incredibly skilled goals. I’ve been a Darcy Kuemper critic for some time now, but I really think that of the goals he gave up only one was really his fault and it just happened to be incredibly bad luck as it rolled up his blocker. Tampa just played beautiful attacking hockey that punished a relaxed Avalanche defense that was too often caught out of position, especially on the rush.
- Game four becomes critical for the Avalanche. We’ve seen this before, the Lightning give up two games and then run through a series with four straight wins. In my eyes game, four has become a must-win for the Avalanche. You cannot allow Tampa to regain momentum within the series, you certainly can’t be run out of the building the way you were in game three. Maybe a goaltending change makes things better, Kuemper hasn’t done well at keeping limited shots out of the net, he’s the type of goalie that needs volume, the Avs should focus off-season resources on a reliable goalie that can stop a limited number of shots, but for now, either Darcy will have to step up or Pavel Francouz will need to take over. Game four is critical, the Avs must press hard and fast early, they cannot afford to go back to home ice with the series even. To win the cup, you must win one in Tampa. Anything can happen in game 7.