For the first time in three years, the Stanley Cup was raised overhead by hockey players without zippers on their jerseys. It took the Colorado players six games to remove Nikita Kucherov’s team from the hockey Olympus. The final confrontation turned out to be the brightest.

However, Tampa fans have big questions about the episode, which may have decided the outcome of the series. The winning goal of “Colorado” was at the gates of Vasilevsky after a gross violation!

Did the Lightning just steal the championship?

The judges did not notice the removal

Once on the edge of the abyss, “Tampa” had to strike the beginning of the meeting. In the sixth match, the Lightning rushed to the attack from the first minutes, hoping for a fast puck. In addition, “Evs” went forward and simplified their task, having received a removal already 30 seconds after the starting face-off.

The majority of Tampa are limping throughout the finals, and it seemed that now was the right moment to correct this situation. But the “lightning” did not fix the game in unequal lineups and once again forgave the opponent.

But activity and aggressive pressure quickly brought success to John Cooper’s team. Already in the fourth minute of the match, Kucherov imposed a fight behind the gates on the Evs defenders, forcing them to throw themselves back without looking. However, the puck hit Ondřej Palat’s skate, and bounced off him to a nickel, where Tampa captain Steven Stamkos guarded her. The Canadian was not taken aback and opened the scoring in the match.

Photo: © REUTERS / Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Before the puck of Stamkos in the final, only the “avalanches” were lucky with rebounds. It seemed that the champion’s luck had finally returned to Tampa. And in defense, the team played almost perfectly: in the first period, Evs had only one truly dangerous moment. However, the Colorado hockey players were extremely motivated not to finish the seventh match and evened the score at the beginning of the second 20-minute.

“Tampa” received a delayed penalty and could not resist the six players of the opponent. The Aves locked the Lightning in the zone and in a 6-on-5 game, Bowen Byram brought Nathan McKinnon to the shot. The Canadian, having received the puck, shot Andrei Vasilevsky at close range and equalized the score. Interestingly, before that, Vasilevsky had problems with equipment and he even had to change the helmet to a new one, but after McKinnon’s puck, the keeper put on the old one again.

The old helmet did not return the luck, and soon Artturi Lehkonen realized the “3 in 2” exit and brought the “Colorado” ahead. After missing the puck, Patrick Maroon became so angry that he broke his stick on Aves player Josh Manson. The reason for the rage was an episode that occurred a few seconds before Lehkonen’s goal.

Tampa attacked on the move, but lost the puck in the Colorado zone. Lightning forward Pierre Bellmare was about to work on defense and prevent the Evs from counterattacking, but Manson hooked him with a stick and knocked him down. Thus, the “avalanches” got a dangerous exit “3 in 2”.

Although the judges forgave Marun, without starting to send him off, such nobility did not cool the Tampa players. The Lightning began to play frankly rudely, constantly trying to hurt the opponent. But such tactics could not lead to anything good, and after a couple of minutes, Ryan McDona at the side pushed Darren Helm in the back.

The referee immediately counted the removal, which the captain of the Lightning did not like very much. Stamkos even threw the puck at the referee and hit him in the skate. True, the referee did not pay attention to this and did not remove the captain either.

The Colorado hockey players failed to realize the majority. “Lightning” rushed under the puck, and what they did not have time to block, Vasilevsky caught.

Before the start of the final 20-minute period, everyone was expecting Tampa to play a bright game in attack and storm the gate. However, the “lightning” seemed to have a few more periods left and were in no hurry to recoup – in the first nine minutes they never threw on goal. And only at the end of the period, the Tampa hockey players began to carry out dangerous attacks.

Kucherov had the most chances. The Russian made one-touch shots several times, but each time he was unlucky – either the puck would jump off the stick, or the Colorado players would block the shot. So a few minutes before the end, Gabriel Landeskog lay down under the puck and stopped Kucherov’s shot with his skate. The striker’s blade even popped out and he had to crawl to the bench during the Tampa attack.

However, the Colorado players showed character and heroically survived (2:1). And immediately after the final siren, they began to congratulate each other on the long-awaited victory. The Aves made it to the Finals for the first time since 2001, and immediately won the Stanley Cup. At the same time, the “avalanches” took away the trophy from the team, which had not parted with it for two years.

Colorado forward Valery Nichushkin did not score in this match, but he is rightfully considered one of the most valuable players in the final. His story is amazing: he went from a man with a terrible goalless streak to a Stanley Cup winner.

Photo: © REUTERS / Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

As for Tampa, the team will start the next season as one of the favorites of the tournament. However, many experts predicted the inevitable collapse of the team in the event of a defeat from Evs. However, this topic will become relevant next season, but for now, Colorado must be given its due: the team certainly deserved its trophy.