Avalanche must beat two-time champion Lightning to win Cup
DENVER » Nathan MacKinnon wouldn’t have it any other way.
He and the Colorado Avalanche have stubbed their toe many times in the playoffs over the past several years, never getting past the second round. Now that they’ve broken through to reach the Stanley Cup Final, naturally they need to beat the back -to- back defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning to win this core group’s first title. Game 1 is Wednesday in Denver. “I’m glad we’re playing Tampa,” MacKinnon said Tuesday. “There’s no Cinderella story or anything: Two of the best teams in the league going at it and really excited for this challenge. And it’s going to be very, very difficult, but I believe this group and we all believe in each other. Hopefully we get this done.”
Colorado is favored, according to FanDuel Sportsbook, but must beat an opponent that has won 11 consecutive playoff series. The Lightning have become the NHL’s gold standard for success in the salary cap era and would join the company of hockey dynasties if they become the first to three-peat since the New York Islanders lifted the Cup four times in a row from 198084.
MacKinnon will try to follow the
lead of fellow Cole Harbor, Nova Scotia, native Sidney Crosby, who won his first championship in 2009 when Pittsburgh beat defending champion Detroit in the final. The Lightning are the first team since Wayne Gretzky’s Edmonton Oilers from 1983-85 to reach the final in
three consecutive years.
“They’ve been the best for a while now, and we have the opportunity to kind of knock them off the pedestal,” Colorado defenseman Cale Makar said.
This Cup showdown is one Lightning captain Steven Stamkos is surprised did not happen earlier. While he and his teammates have been making long playoff runs, the Avalanche were among the titans of the West and predicted to do the same.
Colorado instead lost in the first round in 2018 and the second each of the past three seasons. Much like Tampa Bay getting swept in the first round in 2019, those defeats have strengthened the Avalanche and prepared them for this challenge.