Artturi Lehkonen scored a game winning goal just over halfway through the second period on Sunday night, as the Colorado Avalanche clinched their first championship in 21 years by defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Colorado wins the best of seven series 4-2, dethroning the back to back champions from Tampa Bay.
Steven Stamokos put Tampa in front with a goal at 3:48 of the first period, as the Lightning were attempting to force a Game 7 back in Denver after trailing the series 3-1. Colorado had other plans. Nathan MacKinnon evened the score at 1:54 of the second, before the game winner was notched by Lehkonen later in the period. The winner came on a 3 on 2 breakout, as MacKinnon tried to slide a pass back to Josh Manson on the rush but the puck instead went of the skate of Tampa Bay defenseman Ryan McDonagh right to Lehknonen who fired a quick shot that beat goaltender Andrei Vasilevsky glove side from the left circle at 12:28. The Avalanche closed out a 16-4 Stanley Cup Playoff run, winning each of the clinching games on the road where they went 9-1 in the postseason. They had previously won it all in 1996 and 2001.
Vasilevsky made 28 saves in the loss for Tampa Bay, who was trying to become the first team to win the Cup in three straight seasons since the NY Islanders who did it four times from 1980-1983. The Lightning end up with a final record of 65-32-8. Colorado got 22 saves from Darcy Kuemper, ending a phenomenal playoff run with a record of 72-23-7. Defenseman Cale Makar won the Conn Smythe Trophy (MVP of the NHL Playoffs), as he had the third most points of any player in the postseason with 29 (8 goals, 21 assists). He became the youngest defenseman (23) to win the award in 52 years. The former University of Massachusetts product previously had won the Norris Trophy this season as the leagues best defenseman. Head Coach Jared Bednar, who has been behind the Colorado bench since the start of the 2016-17 seaaon, wins his first Stanley Cup. Bednar becomes the first coach to win championship trophies in the ECHL, AHL, and now the NHL. He won the Kelly Cup (ECHL) as coach of the South Carolina Stingrays in 2008-09, and the Calder Cup (AHL) with the Lake Erie Monsters during the 2015-16 campaign.
