Avalanche bury Lightning to take 2-0 lead in Stanley Cup Final
LOS ANGELES—Valeri Nichushkin and Cale Makar scored two goals apiece as the Colorado Avalanche thrashed the Tampa Bay Lightning 7-0 on Saturday to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the NHL Stanley Cup Final.
The two-time defending champion Lightning, who rallied from 2-0 down to beat the New York Rangers in six games in the Eastern Conference final, struggled all night in the face of Colorado’s devastating speed and skill.
Nichushkin put the Avalanche ahead at 2:54 of the first period with a powerplay goal, redirecting Andre Burakovksy’s pass past Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Colorado doubled the score at 7:55 of the first, The Avs offense barrelling through the Tampa Bay’s defense and defenseman Josh Manson putting a slapshot from the right face-off circle over the shoulder of Vasilevskiy.
Less than 10 minutes into the first the Avs had a 15-1 shot advantage.
Burakovsky, who scored the gamewinner in overtime in game one, made it 3-0 at 13:52 of the first on a rebound of a Mikka Rantanen’s shot.
Colorado became just the third team in the history of the Stanley Cup Final to score at least three first-period goals in each of the first two games, joining the 1981 New York Islanders and the 1936 Detroit Red Wings.
Tampa Bay had more success slowing the Avalanche to start the second, but they struggled to build any offensive momentum.
A Tampa Bay turnover behind the net opened the door for a fourth Avalanche goal, Nichushkin making it 4-0.
Ten minutes later Vasilevskiy came up with a massive save of a Nichushkin shot, but Darren Helm beat him on a breakaway at 16:26 of the second to send it to the second intermission with the Avalanche up 5-0.
Colorado continued to pour it on in the third as Makar scored a short-handed goal and a power-play goal to push the lead to 7-0.