– We made a pretty good match, stated Colorado center Darren Helm after the match.
It can probably be seen as the evening’s understatement. It has only happened twice in NHL history that a final team both keeps a clean sheet and scores seven goals or more against the opponent.
We have Seattle’s 7-0 victory against Montreal in 1919, and Pittsburgh’s 8-0 victory in 1991 against Minnesota.
Colorado coach Jared Bednar dared on a slightly stronger summary:
– It was clearly as close to a perfect match you can get from your players. “I think our guys played hard straight from the drop, they were determined on the defensive, dangerous offensively, persistent on the puck, relentless in the puck hunt and that was the whole lineup, he says according to The Denver Post.
Tampa Bay goalkeeper Andrei Vasilevsky made his 100th playoff game, but it turned out to be a memorable match for the wrong reason for the Russian star. Out of 30 shots, he conceded seven, but still escaped being replaced.
After the first period he had conceded three goals, of which André Burakovsky accounted for one, and played beautifully until another. It was the second match in a row that the Swede became the goal scorer, after deciding the first meeting in the final series in overtime.
The second period involved two new Colorado goals and a 5-0 lead.
If anyone thought it would make Colorado slow down, hill Cale Makar disproved them in the third. First, the Canadian 23-year-old tricked the puck into a numerical disadvantage on his own half of the field, went up and on his own arranged 6-0. Then, halfway into the period, he also pulled away with 7-0, this time in powerplay.
– These are two good teams. They (Colorado) are simply playing at a much higher level than what we are doing right now, says Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper after the game.
He has a lot to think about for the third game, if Tampa Bay is to succeed in taking home the trophy for the third year in a row. Tampa Bay has the odds against it when the NHL Finals move to Florida.
In 90.4 percent of the times a team has won the first two matches in the best of seven, they have also taken home the dent.