Colorado Avalanche Wins Its Third Stanley Cup in Franchise History

They say defense wins championships and the Colorado Avalanche’s defense played well in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals, holding the Tampa Bay Lightning to a single goal in a 2-1 victory on June 26th. The win clinched the series 4-2 for Colorado over the defending champions and gave the Avalanche its 1st Stanley Cup Championship since 2001 and third in franchise history (the other was in 1996).

Nathan MacKinnon and Artturi Lehkonen each scored a goal in the second period for Colorado. The Avalanche held Tampa Bay to just four shots on goal in the third period, and 23 overall. Andrei Vasilevskiy had another excellent game in goal for Tampa Bay, stopping 28 of 30 shots in the loss, but Avalanche defense only allowed a 1st period goal to Steven Stamkos.

Cale Makar was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Makar scored eight goals and had 21 assists in 20 games. The 23 year old defenseman, who played college hockey at the University of Massachusetts, won the Hobey Baker Award as college hockey’s best player in 2019, and followed that up the next year with the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie.

The Lightning failed to win a third consecutive Stanley Cup, but reaching the Finals again was a great accomplishment. They’ve done that four times in the last eight years. Stamkos says they aren’t done yet, and there is no reason to think they couldn’t reach the Finals again next year. Time will tell if this was the last chapter of a dynasty or not.