The Avs came out with their hair on fire in the first period, as they led 3-1 and put the Bolts on their heels. Tampa Bay, one of the darkest teams in the NHL, hit back in the second period to equalize the game, scoring two goals in just 48 seconds by Andrei Palat and Mikhail Sergachev. Colorado completely dominated in the third period, but Andrei Vasilevsky helped Tampa Bay get out of the arrangements and reach the overtime. However, Lightning could not survive the barrage much longer than Avs. After a bad upset by Lightning defender Victor Hedman, Valeri Nichuskin threw a beautiful feed to Burakovsky and he fired a shot into an open cage. Tampa Bay will try to improve the series in Game 2, which is set for 8:00 p.m. ET on Saturday night. Before that, here are some facts from Colorado’s victory in Game 1.
An avalanche floods the lightning
The list of teams that can make Lightning look like they are over their head is very short. In fact, it can only be one team. The Avalanche were clearly the best team in Game 1. It’s that simple. No matter how you cut it into slices, the Avs took it to the champions back-to-back in the opening game. In the five-on-five, Colorado scored 2.60 expected goals against Tampa Bay 1.05 per Natural Stat. In terms of special teams, Avalanche had the lead there as well. Colorado converted to one of the three power plays and had some quality opportunities in the other two. Meanwhile, Avs’s penalty shootout completely silenced a Lightning Man lethal advantage on all three occasions. The Lightning are a resilient team – you do not win two consecutive Stanley Cups without this quality – but they need a much better effort in Game 2 to commit to this series and return to Tampa.
Concern for Kuemper
From the numbers listed above, as well as the total number of shots, one would think that Colorado ran Tampa Bay out of the building. Instead, the Avs needed an extension and a bounce from the other could put them at 1-0 to start this series. This is because one area of concern for Colorado in this game was between the pipes. Darcy Kuemper conceded just 23 shots in more than three hockey seasons and conceded three goals. When you look at the underlying numbers, it’s even worse. Tampa Bay have conceded just 1.54 goals in all situations, which means Kuemper has conceded 1.46 goals more than expected in this game alone. If it’s not already clear that Lightning has a big net advantage, it certainly is now. It remains to be seen how many times the Avs can continue to overcome subdued starts from their goalkeeper.
Nichuskin goes up
The leader in the expected goals for Avalanche in Game 1 was not Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen or Cale Makar. Instead, it was Nichuskin who scored the expected 0.74 goals with all of them coming in at five against five. Part of the reason the Avs are so deadly is because their depth is unmatched by any team in the league, and Nichuskin is a great example of that. He scored his sixth goal of the season, when he threw a shot through Vasilevsky’s legs in the first half and helped the winning goal with a decent shot to give to his team-mate Burakowski. , a great. After falling steadily to the exit of the second round of Colorado a year ago, Nichuskin uploaded his game this year and that makes the Avalanche a much more dangerous team.
