The midsummer night’s dream of becoming the new Stanley Cup champion at home fell apart for Gabriel Landeskog and his Colorado. Instead, the two-time champions enter Tampa Bay after a 3-2 victory.
Tampa, on the other hand, was rehabilitated after the last meeting, which was decided by a controversial goal in extra time – then Colorado won 3-2.
Ondrej Palat is celebrated as match hero after his decisive goal, with assists from Victor Hedman, with six minutes of play left.
– I think we played well, a fantastic away match. We managed to control the situation. We simply found a way to win, says Palat after the match.
– A huge victory and now we go home to Tampa.
It was not the first time the team could lean against Palat when it comes to. Twelve times he has decided in the playoffs in the NHL. Of the active players, only two have succeeded several times – Dallas Joe Pavelski (14 times) and Pittsburgh’s Yevgeny Malkin (13).
– Right now it feels really good. We are happy to go home to our fans. It will be a fantastic match, says Palat.
Tampa Bay, as so far below the final series has been the weaker team, pulled up when it really mattered and took command of the match. Andrei Vasilevsky played great in the Tampa cage and saved 35 shots.
The score 3-2 in matches to Colorado means at least one more meeting before it is decided who will be allowed to lift the Stanley Cup dent this year.
But if Tampa Bay is to succeed all the way for the third year in a row, it is necessary to not only win the next meeting (the night before Monday at home), but also a seventh game in Colorado (the night against Wednesday in that case).
Colorado, on the other hand, only needs one more win to take home their first Stanley Cup since 2001. If they succeed, Gabriel Landeskog will be the second Swedish team captain in NHL history to lift the dent – Niklas Lidström is so far the only Swede to have done so. (Detroit 2008).
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