Stanley Cup Finals: Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Colorado Avalanche ( Avs lead 3-2)

[ozzie]

Such a close series. Part of me thinks this is just going 7 games after tonight, who wins? no idea. I love the idea of Tampa fighting against all odds to three-peat, sports needs villains to topple, it makes it interesting. The longer this goes, the more that experience and savvy is going to come into play. Game 7 winner takes all would be glorious, you either get the Avs falling due to lack of experience or you get the Lightning coming back with buckets of experience, either way. The fans win.

 

[CatOTails]

There's another asterisk shimmering on the horizon. The covid cup, the cap hit and now THE REFS. Oh the avalanche fanbase.

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

Bednar should follow coopers lead and whine about the refs. It works.

Tell me how the game was officiated so bad? Why are you being a cry baby? Sure the trip on Pally wasn't great, but you guys got a 5 on 3 in game 1 with the same weak trip being called.

You guys complaining about officiating, Cooper, etc ENOUGH ALREADY

I'm telling you guys the coaching and goaltending advantages are showing up now. This is very dangerous combination tampa has over avalanche.

Avs have Cale Makar and he's unreal. It's a steep task for us

 

[BigDaddyLurch]

Tell me how the game was officiated so bad? Why are you being a cry baby? Sure the trip on Pally wasn't great, but you guys got a 5 on 3 in game 1 with the same weak trip being called.

You guys complaining about officiating, Cooper, etc ENOUGH ALREADY

...to be fair, tonight's officiating was pretty bad...that said, I personally feel that the officiating in the Playoffs in general has been severely substandard...

 

[Whoshattenkirkshoes]

Why would we be worried?

Today was by far Tampa's best game and they barely won. I'm not counting out Tampa because they can come back and take the series, but if they do it's because they earned it, not because the Avs choked. Avs have been playing their hearts out and have been the better team (outside of the goaltending duel), if Tampa wins all you can do is tip your hat.

I'm enjoying the run and watching my team play fantastic hockey. I would love for the Avs to win the cup, but i'm not going to be disappointed if they don't.

It wasn't our best game. I'll flip it, you won 2 overtime games and they both could be flipped. Could be 4-1 TBL

...to be fair, tonight's officiating was pretty bad...that said, I personally feel that the officiating in the Playoffs in general has been severely substandard...

It's always bad. so inconsistent

 

[BigDaddyLurch]

It's always bad. so inconsistent

...I find this year and this Playoff specifically it has been much worse than usual...and I know they have one of the hardest jobs in all professional sports, however it has seemed to be getting worse instead of better...wildly inconsistent from one play to the next and I swear they are missing more now with 4 zebras on the ice than they used to with only 3 on there back in my day...and every game seems to get "managed" now instead of making the calls when they need to be made...

 

[Panthaz89]

This is pretty standard for Tampa. They’ve been winning plenty of games like this for 3 years straight now. I’d be worried as an Avs fan

Tampa outplayed all of their previous opponents easily.

 

[SwedishFire]

Oh Colorado, dont drop the ball.... you had your chance.


Now belive me - Tampa will win this- 100% sure.

one more game, and its gonna be Avs who feels like the loosers, losing a 3-1 lead.
ALL pressure is on the Avs now.
No no no... no good,.
Sigh

 

[PAZ]

It wasn't our best game. I'll flip it, you won 2 overtime games and they both could be flipped. Could be 4-1 TBL

I personally think Tampa played better this game than Game 3 - it was obviously a blowout but it was a combination of Tampa adapting, playing well, and the Avs playing poorly. Compared to this game Avs still played a very solid game and Tampa still came out on top.

Not sure why you're bringing up OT, Tampa got destroyed in OT and end of the day they lost.

 

[jimmysheva]

That was it. We choked away the Stanley Cup. Congratulations on your dynasty, Tampa. I wont bother watching game 6 and game 7 because we obviously will lose.

 

[DieselBoy]

Vincent Damphousse once wrote on the teams white board that they “have no problem beating the other team in their own building”. It was left there for the team to see for the duration of the game. The Sharks went on to knock the Avs out in 6. This was back in 04 or whatever after Sakic scored back to back gwg in OT. He ended up signing with Avalanche the next season but ultimately retired before ever playing a game because of the lockout. Avs just need to go out and do it.

 

[Shrimper]

Avs have choked. Tampa's to lose now

 

[bobholly39]

You'd have to think that going back home, with all of their experience, Tampa is favorite to win game 6

I say this will go 7 games

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

That was it. We choked away the Stanley Cup. Congratulations on your dynasty, Tampa. I wont bother watching game 6 and game 7 because we obviously will lose.

Don't give up just now. You never know what'll happen in Game 6.

 

[RedHawkDown]

Tampa outplayed all of their previous opponents easily.

Don’t think so. I think Toronto outplayed them pretty clearly for most of the series for example. Florida got wrecked but yeah.

 

[KPower]

Game 5, Vasi .946, Keumper .896

Expecting games 6 and 7 to be similar.

 

[Vasilevskiy]

Neat

That's why our ice sucks. Amirite?

 

[CatOTails]

Tampa outplayed all of their previous opponents easily.

4-3 vs Toronto wasn't easy.

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

 

[Vasilevskiy]

Great effort against the Avs on the road... Vasi still has another gear in him and it is his moment. Kucherov also still has to play his unreal game. It's your time boys

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

Great effort against the Avs on the road... Vasi still has another gear in him and it is his moment. Kucherov also still has to play his unreal game. It's your time boys

You know, I'm starting to cheer for Colorado right now, but a three-peat would be nice for Tampa.
I owe Tampa credit for beating the Calgary Flames in the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals, who beat our team in the first round during that year's playoffs.

 

[The Merchant]

 

[Firsov99]

Glad it’s going for at least one more game. Tampa is too good to lose in 5 games.

 

[calahanzoer]

Tampa is best at playing playoff hockey. Not sexy but effective. Avs is flashier and faster but bolts are just good at this. More cynical.

 

[VinikToWinIt]

Landy: I’m not going to discuss officiating, Tampa does that

Makar: hold my beer