Stanley Cup Finals: Colorado vs Tampa Bay, Odds Game 3

The Tampa Bay Lightning fell down 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals but rallied to win the next four games and advance to their third straight Stanley Cup Final. The Bolts again find themselves down 2-0 against the Colorado Avalanche as the series moves to Tampa for Game 3 on Monday. Let’s see how the teams are coming for your NHL Odds.

How to Bet Avalanche at Lightning NHL Hockey Odds & TV Info

When: Monday, 8 PM ET
Where: Amalie Arena
TV: ABC
Stream: ESPN+
Radio: ESPN Radio
Opening NHL Lines: Lightning -110, Avalanche -110 (total 6)

Why Bet on Colorado?

The Avalanche obliterated the Lightning 7-0 in Game 2 on Saturday, truly one of the most surprising results on Stanley Cup Final history. The Avalanche are the 5th team, and the first since the 1976 Canadiens, to take a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Final against the defending champs. Three of the previous 4 teams to do it went on to hoist the Cup.

Cale Makar in Game 2 became the second defenseman in Stanley Cup Final history to score shorthanded as well on the power play in the same game. The first to do so was Glen Wesley for the Bruins in 1988 who did it as a rookie against the Edmonton Oilers in Game 4. Makar has seven goals and 24 points in just 16 games to lead the Avs and is tied for third in NHL playoff scoring at this time. He’s now the Conn Smythe Trophy favorite.

Valeri Nichushkin scored two goals and was the No. 1 star. Nichushkin was an early hero by scoring goals against Andrei Vasilevskiy in the opening minutes of both the first and second periods. The 27-year-old forward has five goals over his last four postseason games – included in those marks, a pair of two-goal showings. Nichushkin has logged 13 points in 16 games for the postseason as a whole.

Mikko Rantanen extended his points streak to six games as he had three assists in the Game 2 win. He has five assists in two Stanley Cup games thus far and five goals and 17 assists in 16 games in 2022 post-season action. Rantanen is seventh overall in NHL scoring and has four goals and 11 points in the six-game streak.

Andre Burakovsky had the game-winning OT goal in Game 1 and a goal and assist in Game 2 before leaving with an injury. He didn’t accompany the team to Tampa but was to fly there Monday and still could play. It’s the second injury Burakovsky has suffered in the postseason, after he was forced to miss two games in the Western Conference final against Edmonton with a leg injury.

The Avalanche are already playing short-handed in their top-six as Nazem Kadri remains out following thumb surgery. He last played in Game 3 of the conference finals. Kadri hasn’t been ruled out as of this writing for Game 3 but probably won’t play.

In 1996, the Avalanche scored 11 goals through the 1st 2 games of the Stanley Cup Final and won by 7 goals in Game 2 at home against a team from Florida (the Panthers). Those Avs won the Cup in a sweep. Colorado has followed the same path thus far in the 2022 Final against Tampa Bay.

Why Bet on Tampa Bay?

Game 2 was a nightmare game from start to finish for Tampa Bay, which trailed 3-0 after the first period before giving up two more goals in both the second and third frames. The final score was bad, but it could have been much worse. There were multiple saves on breakaways, 2-on-1’s, and deflections from Andrei Vasilevskiy, who was thrown into a fire.

“We left him out to dry,” said Steven Stamkos of his future Hall of Fame goaltender. “He’s been our backbone for years and years and years. We owe it to him to have a better game next game. It could’ve been more.”

The usually-reliable Vasilevskiy has now surrendered 3 first-period goals for two straight games. His 6 goals allowed are the most in the 1st period through two Stanley Cup Final games since George Hainsworth gave up 7 in 1936. The seven total goals allowed were the most Vasilevskiy has given up in a Stanley Cup Final start. Prior to these playoffs, Vasilevskiy had given up more than three goals just once in the Final.

In Game 1, the Lightning managed to post just 23 shots on net, but they recorded 60 shot attempts. So while they struggled to get pucks through to Darcy Kuemper in Game 1, they did earn their share of possession time. That didn’t happen for them in Game 2. They registered just 29 shot attempts for the entire game. Colorado dominated possession all night long.

Nick Paul had nine hits Saturday. He was one of the very few bright spots for Tampa Bay as only he and defenseman Mikhail Sergachev were not on the minus side of the ledger. Paul also had two shots on goal as well as a blocked shot. He has four goals and eight points in 19 games with 49 hits.

Coach Jon Cooper said the team isn’t panicking: “There’s a lot of time between the series and games and you focus a little too much on the opponent. Maybe you have to circle back and focus a little bit more on yourself. Why are you in this situation? What put you here? That’s something we have to do…we have to control what we are going to do and we haven’t done that. I think I said this after the Rangers series. It is not an ideal situation we are in but it’s not insurmountable.”