NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs – Colorado Avalanche – Tampa Bay Lightning 4: 3 pp – ŠPORT.SK

today 06:15 | Colorado Avalanche hockey players have successfully entered the NHL playoff final series. In the opening match, they defeated two-time Stanley Cup defender Tampa Bay Lightning 4: 3 after extra time on Thursday. Andre Burakovsky decided the victory for the home team in the 83rd second. Duel Colorado – Tampa Bay you could watch ONLINE on ŠPORT.sk >> Slovak defender Erik Černák played for the guests 19:53 min., Gave three hits and blocked five shots of the opponent – the most of all players on the ice. The second final match is scheduled for Sunday night at 2.00 CEST again in Denver. NHL – play-off final: Colorado Avalanche – Tampa Bay Lightning 4: 3 pp (3: 1, 0: 2, 0: 0 – 1: 0) Goals: 8. Landeskog (Rantanen, Byram), 10. Nichushkin (MacKinnon ), 18. Lehkonen (Rantanen, Landeskog), 62. Burakovsky (Ničuškin, Compher) – 13. Paul (Hedman, Point), 33. Palát (Kučerov, McDonagh), 34. Sergačov (Hagel, Cirelli). Judges: Dwyer, Sutherland – Barton, Daisy, disqualification: 4: 4 for 2 min., Power-ups: 1: 0, weakening: 0: 0, 17,778 spectators. Colorado Avalanche: Kuemper – Makar, Toews, Manson, J. Johnson, E. Johnson, Byram – Ničuškin, MacKinnon, Landeskog – Rantanen, Compher, Burakovsky – O’Connor, Helm, Lehkonen – Aube-Kubel, Sturm, Newhook Tampa Bay Lightning: Vasilevsky – Rutta, Hedman, ČERNÁK, McDonagh, Bogosian, Sergačov – Kučerov, Stamkos, Palát – Hagel, Cirelli, Killorn – Paul, Point, Colton – Perry, Bellemare, Maroon / series status: 1: 0 / Tampe failed beginning of the match, she lost 0: 2 in the 10th minute, but gradually she ran and in the second period she managed to equalize from 1: 3 to 3: 3. In the 2nd minute of the overtime, however, the guests did not pay attention to the action of JT Compher, although his attempt managed to block, but Valery Nichushkin got to the puck, who beat Burakovsky and the Swedish winged wing decided the triumph of Colorado with the first shot. “It’s a great feeling. I think we fought really hard the whole match. In the second period we had a bit of a mental loss, we didn’t win puck fights, but in the third part we shook off,” said Burakovsky, who scored for the second time in this year’s decommissioning. “Andre has played well in recent games and he deserves a goal. Nichushkin and Gabriel Landeskog contributed to the victory with both goals and assists, Rantanen had two assists. Colorado entered the goal with Darcy Kuemper. He recovered from an injury he suffered in the first game of the Western Conference final against Edmonton, and his coaches preferred him to the Czech Pavel Francouz. In the opening final duel, he performed 20 successful interventions. On the contrary, after the thumb operation, there were no centers Nazem Kadri or another “avalanche” striker Andrew Cogliano. Another important goal in the playoffs was scored by Artturi Lehkonen, who came to Denver before the end of the exchanges from Montreal. In the first period, he increased to 3: 1 and did a good job of weakening for his team. “We did excellent forcing and we were able to throw pucks out of our zone,” said a Finnish striker, who was also praised by Colorado coach Jared Bednar: “It’s an important X-factor for us. he kept the game plan, even though his opponent was able to equalize from 1: 3 to 3: 3. We showed great resistance. ” After missing 10 matches, Brayden Point returned to the Lightning team, starting for the first time from an injury in the lower part of the body, which he inflicted in the 1st round in match no. 7 with Toronto. The elite center started in the middle of Tampa’s third attack and scored assistance with the first goal from Nick Paul’s stick. “He won the deservedly better team. The opponent needs to pay tribute to how he managed the first match. I don’t think we gave our best performance, if we want to succeed in the final and beat such a strong opponent, we have to improve. elements on which we can build, “said Tampa coach Jon Cooper, according to AP. The Avalanche players came out especially in the first period, in which they scored three goals out of 15 shots. The “lightning” goalkeeper Andrei Vasilevsky had 34 successful interventions, for the first time in his career (after 99 matches) he collected more than two goals in the playoff match in the first period. Colorado shot the opponent 38:23. If Tampa wants to think of winning the third cup in a row to mimic the success of the 1980-83 New York Islanders dynasty, he will have to add in the next game. “We were able to return to the match, we settled and got the duel into overtime. Everything is possible in it. Of course, we didn’t want such a start to the series. We will have to change some things and we will definitely have a better start to the next duel,” said the captain. Tampy Steven Stamkos.