Palat leads Lightning past Avalanche to keep Stanley Cup run alive

The Tampa Bay Lightning upset Colorado’s party, defeating the Avalanche by 3-2 in Game 5.

It’s back in Tampa for Game 6 on Sunday evening. The Lightning lead the best-of-7 series 3-2.

The Lightning also had goals by defenceman Jan Rutta and Nikita Kucherov. Cale Makar and Valeri Nichushkin were also goals for Colorado. Makar’s third-period score bounced off the skates of Erik Cernak, and through the pads by Vasilevskiy to tie the score at 2.

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It set the scene for Palat, whose shot was caught by Darcy Kuemper. The crowd fell silent for a brief moment.

After a heartbreaking Game 4 loss at home, Tampa Bay rallied on the goal of Colorado forward Nazem Kaldri in overtime. The Lightning felt that the Avalanche may have had too many players to win the game.

With 2:43 remaining, Colorado was notified that there were too many players on its ice penalty. The Lightning went on the powerplay and made it so Colorado couldn’t pull Kuemper until just 30 seconds left. They survived the Avalanche’s last barrage.

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The Stanley Cup final saw the Avalanche take a 3-1 series lead over the Avalanche, but it was not without controversy.

The Lightning proving their championship skills. They have already overcome a 3-2 deficit to Toronto and climbed out from a 2-0 hole against New York Rangers in Eastern Conference finals.

They would be in a completely different category if they win this comeback series. Only one team has rallied to capture a Game 7 in the final after trailing 3-1 in a series — the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs.

This is a gritty Lightning group that doesn’t seem to be slowing down against a fast Avalanche squad, and even after all the games they’ve played. Since the beginning of the 2020 season, Tampa Bay has participated in 67 postseason matches. This is basically an extra season.

The Avalanche are attempting to win their first title since 2001. The Avalanche fans were out in full force — both inside the building (an upper-level ticket on game day was going for around $1,500) and outside at a nearby watch party.

It was clear that Colorado knew it wouldn’t be easy. Makar saidThis was the “toughest” game we’d had thus far, as it was leading up to the game.

The Avalanche are now 2 for 2 in their Stanley Cup Final appearances. They also won the Stanley Cup Final in 1996, their first season in Denver since moving from Quebec.

Rutta ignited some energy in the crowd with his first goal during the playoffs. It was a slapshot taken from Kuemper’s side.

It bode well for the Lightning — teams that score the first goal when staring at elimination in the final are 55-25.

“If we could choose, we would just write out our name all the round the circle. [of the Cup]Cooper laughed before the game.