The Colorado Avalanche took the Stanley Cup final in the sixth final of the series. The championship was awarded to Colorado 2-1. The winning goal was completed by Finnish striker Artturi Lehkonen.
The 21-year wait for the Colorado Avalanche is over. The Colorado team has won its first Stanley Cup since the spring of 2001. Colorado knocked out the Tampa Bay Lightning NHL in the sixth final with 2-1 goals and took the series 4-2.
The winning goal was shot in the second round by a Finnish striker from Colorado Artturi Lehkonen. The goal was eighth in the playoffs. Lehkonen became the first Finn to score a goal in the Stanley Cup since 1987 and Jari Kurrin.
Earlier this summer, Lehkonen settled in the final round of the conference series between Colorado and Edmonton Oilers.
The championship paint tasted very sweet.
– Of course it feels really good! It was a pretty cool feeling to make a championship goal. It’s hard to describe it in words, Lehkonen smiled at Urheil.
Watch the full Lehkonen championship interview in the video below.
In addition to Lehkonen, the team’s star striker will be named after the Finns in the Stanley Cup Mikko Rantanen and goalkeeper coach Jussi Parkkila. For everyone, the championship is the first in their careers.
This is how the match progressed
The first installment of the match was Tampa and especially its start went according to the script desired by the home team.
Colorado Star Defender Cale Makar started the match by taking a penalty less than half a minute after the game. Although Tampa Bay did not succeed with its superiority, it immediately got a grip on the game.
A moment after the punishment, the hosts hit. Nathan MacKinnon and Makar lost the disc twice in a row in a small space, Tampa Nikita Kutsherov fought in front of the puck goal and the captain Steven Stamkos threw the puck Darcy Kuemperin from below to finish.
Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooperin the familiar game plan appeared in the sixth final. The home team worked hard to calm down the game.
For example, the Lightning team constantly asked the referee about past situations and challenged the duo’s views on goals or penalties. The habit was familiar from the third final, where Tampa was able to freeze the pace of Colorado’s play in addition to the help brought by his substitute.
However, Colorado just got on top of its own momentum in the second installment. Avalanche’s first goal came from MacKinnon’s stage and the success of the superstar clearly brought power to the guests. Colorado began to succeed better in their midfield crossings and was thus able to put more pressure on Tampa Bay defenders.
The momentum also brought the lead to the second round. Lehkonen, MacKinnon and Josh Manson escaped three to two against the attack. The puck bounced with Tampa’s feeds Pierre-Edouard Bellemaren from the foot to Lehkonen, who banged the bet directly on the loose disc. The tile slammed the Tampa guard Andrei Vasilevskin behind the back to the top corner of the goal.
Extra was also seen. An experienced Lightning striker who has won several Stanley Cups Pat Maroonin an ugly swipe to Avalanche defender Josh Manson surprised many. Maroon was not penalized for the situation after Lehkonen’s goal.
You can watch Maroon’s swipe in the video below.
Tampa Bay, who won two championships in a row, was no longer able to win in the third round. Colorado dominated the first half of the batch and Tampa did not get the necessary effort.
In the end, even the last minutes were left for cosmetics. Colorado defended closely and time passed. Eventually, the seconds ran out and the Colorado rackets flew into the air as a token of the championship.
The championship is the third for Colorado in its club history. The two previous ones came in 1996 and 2001.
You can see all the goals of the match in the goal summary below.