A good effort by Tampa Bay to win their first game of the Stanley Cup Finals in front of the home crowd, the Lightning were 7-0 at home and the Avalanche were 7-0 on the road so something had to give.
Just five minutes into the first period and Colorado once again breaks the ice with the first goal an easy floater over the blocker side for their third straight game scoring first but HC Cooper after waiting as long as he could then called for a Coach’s Challenge.
The challenge itself seemed clear-cut but the officials literally took more time to decide the play was offside than the amount of time already spent playing the game, finally after a long review they determined no goal.
Now six minutes in and Tampa Bay gets its first power play since game three against the Rangers and the Lightning are at 0-6 for power play conversion in the Stanley Cup Finals and after the Avalanche get a shorthanded SOG Tampa Bay gets penalized.
We get four on four for 41 seconds and when Colorado is on the power play they score again and this one counts for the 1-0 lead, 6 SOG 5 halfway through the opening period.
Tampa Bay ties the game at one with a fanned on push/shot that went under Mr. Kuemper and Mr. Cirelli who scored the goal also had the secondary assist but was not credited with the statistic, oddly Tampa Bay’s first three goals have no secondary assists.
When Mr. Palat affords the Lightning their first lead of the Stanley Cup Finals by scoring his tenth of the playoffs he too had the secondary assist and was not credited with that point.
At this point, the ESPN cheerleader announcer for Tampa Bay said no less than three times how the Colorado Avalanche looked, “confused”, probably because of the uncharacteristic giveaways resulting in scores for Tampa Bay.
It takes Tampa Bay less than 90 seconds to score their third goal to begin the second period, a few minutes later relentless Avalanche pressure results in a Colorado power play which highlights another “up over the blocker” goal on Mr. Vasilevskiy for the 3-2 score.
Eight minutes into the second period and Mr. Stamkos records his first point of the Stanley Cup Finals by scoring his tenth and Mr. Maroon scores which prompts Colorado to switch goalies and Mr. (Frankie) Francouz takes over for the Avalanche.
A delay of game penalty for shooting the puck into the fans gives Tampa Bay’s Mr. Perry a chance at some loose change which he takes advantage of for the Lightning’s sixth goal and four-goal lead.
In the third period, Tampa Bay takes six shots and Mr. Vasilevskiy plays to his abilities and stops all 12 Colorado shots, of course with little time remaining in a game already won Tampa Bay goes in goon mode as the only highlights from the third period are fighting.
Tampa Bay and Colorado resume tonight at eight o’clock this evening, so the questions are will Tampa Bay win game four, will Mr. Francouz start over Mr. Kuemper, and which Mr. Vasilevskiy will show up?
Buffalo Winter 
That situation was bizarre. The Star’s Kevin McGran, in his blog after the game, shared that the Hockey Night in Canada cameras had an angle that conclusively showed that the play was offside and it was only then that the Lightning bench reacted the way it standing and yelling for a review. Prior to catching the HNIC camera angle, Cooper had already sent the refs on their way. That should have been it, no going back, imho.
If Tampa Bay wins tonight’s game then it’s back to ground zero in effect so to speak and I think COL could be in trouble. Seems like MacKinnon hasn’t yet played up to his potential and needs to step up more. I hope Kadri plays tonight. It has been reported that he participated in the morning skate. Crossed fingers!
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Yes bizarre is an apt adjective, lol
Perhaps if they just go one way or the other instead of using both human judgment and video replay simultaneously
Today’s technology could provide “lines of sight” going across the bluelines and connected to a CPU instantly having a decision on who was or was not offside and eliminate any human error.
I expect another good effort from Tampa Bay as well as Colorado making good on most of their scoring opportunities, a few hours until game time and the Mr. Kadri updates from five and three hours ago are all optimistic and he is a “definite possibility”, reminds me of my morning weather updates.
Also, I have heard on the radio that Toronto hit 90 F / 32.2222 C degrees
Stay cool
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Players off-side should be shot on site. Olde tyme hockey! Eddie Shore!
As for the weather, my town hit 33°. Luckily the humidity was extra high.
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Yes! That’s what I’m talking about. Six or seven more games like that and Tampa should be unassailable.
Shame Colorado ruined the game by gooning it up in the third. Distinct lack of sportsmanship. Must all be American and Euro players.
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Anything is possible, lol
…I suppose Mr. Cherry would agree with you on the ethnicity of the players being the root cause
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Chicken Swedes like MacKinnon and Makar! They disgust me.
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There is a precedent for the Swedish style of Hockey that has had to evolve since Mr. Sterner became the first Swede to play in the NHL back in the mid-sixties, they used to ban bodychecking in the offensive zone in International play until 1969.
So Mr. Borje Salming in the early 1970s did prove Swedes were tough enough to play in the NHL, he lost out on the Calder Trophy to another defenseman Mr. Potvin, but rookie Mr. Potvin was never in the Norris Trophy voting that season, but rookie Mr. Salming was and this accomplishment happened during the Bobby Orr era of Norris Trophy winners.
I had Mr. MacKinnon on my fantasy roster this past season and Mr. Makar is a possible candidate for next year, lol. but I would never have selected one of the Sedin twins
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FYI, Harold Ballard was the first to become famous for judging players based on their country of origin. That is why my rant was a mash up of Ballard and that POS bigot Cherry.
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FFS … “there” not “their”.
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