The puck drops tonight of game one of the 2022 Stanley Cup Finals between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Colorado Avalanche. Tampa Bay being the three seed in the east and Colorado being the number one seed in the west should make this a great series. The Lightning look to win their third straight cup which no hockey fan wants to see happen other than Tampa fans while the Avalanche look to get their first cup in 20 years.

Starting game one in Denver, the bar is set high for both teams with high expectations. I am rooting for the Colorado Avalanche as I am one of those hockey fans who doesn’t want to see the Lightning win three years in a row.

The Avalanche come out hot starting with a 2-0 lead to get the crowd hyped up and into the game. The Lightning later bounce back with a goal of their own making it 2-1. Colorado strikes right back to make the game 3-1 by the end of the first period. Minimal penalties were given throughout the first period which gave both teams equal amount of chances to score. Having four goals scored in the first period alone makes the game much more exciting rather than no goals being scored.

Five minutes into the second period starts with a four on four, which creates more space and more opportunities to score but neither team really had any good chances. It’s been a very physical game with high intensity and pressure on both ends by both teams. The Lightning tie up the game at three with six minutes left in the second period, they score back to back goals in 48 seconds to tie up the game scored by Ondrej Palat and Mikhail Sergachev.

The Avalanche keeps the pressure on offensively on the Lightning in the last few minutes of the period to seek a potential lead to take into the third period. The second period ends though with the game tied at three. It’s anyone’s game to take for the start of this final series.

The third period kicks off with the game being tied at three. At this point of the game halfway through the third period, the Avalanche had 30 hits and the Lightning only have 19 hits. Shows that the Avalanche are being more aggressive and dominant laying on the body to out hustle the Lightning. The Avalanche are also out shooting the lightning as well 30-21 being more aggressive. This is looking like a next goal wins type of situation. It has been a very defensive period, either team not allowing the other team to score to take the lead to win the game. Pat Maroon of the Tampa Bay Lightning takes a delay of game penalty with 1:24 left in the third period to give the Avalanche a chance to win. At the end of the third period, tied at three we’re going into overtime.

The Colorado Avalanche win game one of the Stanley Cup Final in the overtime period on a goal scored by Andre Burakovsky.