by Chuck Sommers
Saturday, Jun 18, 2022Stanley Cup Final, Game 2 -- Avalanche lead series 1-0
Time: 8 p.m. ET
Venue: Ball Arena, Denver, CO
Where to watch: ABC
Opening Odds at USA Sportsbooks
DraftKings: Avalanche -150, Lightning +130
BetMGM: Avalanche -160, Lightning +135
Caesars: Avalanche -149, Lightning +130
Monty Hale completed a strong 9-2-0 run over the last month in the NHL. Are you ready for the most highly anticipated Stanley Cup Final we’ve had in a long time? The two best teams over the past few seasons going at it. And you need to make sure you’re locked in at bigal.com for all of the analysis and thoughts on who will win between the Lightning and Avalanche. You need to be tuned in here to find out all the expert analysis. Catch Monty’s plays available right now at the Shop Picks page, where you can find all of the Best Bets from our champion sports handicappers.
Lightning - Avalanche preview and analysis
The Colorado Avalanche looked rested. And then the Tampa Bay Lightning reminded everyone why you should never count them out. Six more of these please, because these are absolutely needed for the palate.
But it was Andre Burakovsky scoring on a one-timer in overtime, and the Avalanche took Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final 4-3 in overtime against Tampa Bay, setting the stage for the all-important Game 2 in Ball Arena on Saturday.
"I wasn't thinking too much," Burakovsky said. "It was kind of a crazy feeling. Just great to be here in this Final and help the team win a game."
I don’t think the outcome in this one was too wild. I think it was widely expected for the Avalanche, coming into the Final fresh off a sweep in the conference final, to come out strong and eventually win Game 1. That’s exactly what happened with three goals in the opening 20 minutes with Gabriel Landeskog, Mikko Rantanen and Valeri Nichushkin getting Colorado on the board.
"I hope I'm not alone, but I was pretty nervous all day and coming off of warmups the fans were amazing," said Landeskog, the Colorado captain. "You're trying to enjoy the moment as much as you can but you're human and the nerves are there. That's OK, you just have to deal with it and I thought as a team we did a good job of that tonight."
But Tampa, much expected, roared back in the second with two goals to tie it. Nick Paul got the Lightning on the board, but Ondrej Palat and Mikhail Sergachev followed with goals of their own to tie it and essentially force Game 1 to come down to the battle of goalies.
"They scored two quick ones, kind of shocked us a little bit," Rantanen said. "I think we were playing well before that, but in the second in that stretch we were losing battles and were not breaking the puck out as clean as we were in the first and start of the second."
Normally, that would benefit Andrei Vasilevskiy against the returning Darcy Kuemper, but Vasilevskiy had to make 14 more saves than Kuemper despite Tampa making those shots count.
"There are some positives tonight for us in this game, but the right team won the game," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "Give them credit for pulling it out. We've got better in us, though. I don't think by a country mile we gave our best game and we still had a chance to pull it out. But to beat a talented team like that we've got to bring a better game than this."
But one thing we have to remember is that the Lightning aren’t strangers to trailing in a series. Remember how they got blasted by Toronto in Game 1 and even trailed that series 3-2 before coming back to win. And in the Eastern Conference Final, down 2-0 against the New York Rangers, the Lightning answered with four straight to get to this point.
The moral of the story is do not under any circumstances discredit the Lightning for losing a game. The fact that they even came back from down 3-1 to tie the game and give themselves a chance to win in overtime says a lot about where this series is right now.
"The mindset is we're here to win a series and you don't know when that's going to come," Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos said. "Four games, five, six, seven, you never know. We've done a great job of making adjustments after losses. So, we'll look to do that."
Game 2 prediction
The Lightning can hang with this group and got a much-needed two days off to understand what they need to do to be better. I expect a much better effort from Vasilevskiy and can see him putting a vintage performance to send this back to Tampa tied at a game apiece. Lightning win 3-2
Betting trends
Lightning are 9-2 in Game 2 over the past three years.
Lightning are 8-1 when trailing in a playoff series the past three seasons.
Avalanche are 21-7 this season following consecutive overs.
Avalanche are 44-20 in non-conference games the past three seasons.
Lightning are 8-1 when trailing in a playoff series the past three seasons.
Avalanche are 21-7 this season following consecutive overs.
Avalanche are 44-20 in non-conference games the past three seasons.
Projected lines
Lightning:
Steven Stamkos -- Brayden Point -- Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel -- Anthony Cirelli -- Alex Killorn
Ross Colton -- Nicholas Paul -- Ondrej Palat
Pat Maroon -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Corey Perry
Victor Hedman -- Jan Rutta
Ryan McDonagh -- Erik Cernak
Mikhail Sergachev -- Zach Bogosian
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Avalanche:
Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Valeri Nichushkin
Artturi Lehkonen -- Mikko Rantanen -- Andre Burakovsky
Alex Newhook -- J.T. Compher -- Nico Sturm
Andrew Cogliano -- Darren Helm -- Logan O'Connor
Devon Toews -- Cale Makar
Jack Johnson -- Josh Manson
Bowen Byram -- Erik Johnson
Darcy Kuemper
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Chuck Sommers
About the Author:
Chuck Sommers has camped outside of sportsbooks since he can remember, learning the tricks and nuances of the trade. He still has nightmares of betting $5,000 on the Raiders in the Tuck Rule game but has since turned that to 25 years of veteran handicapping greatness. You can find him mostly in the shadows at the Red Rock or Aliante casinos wondering if the over is cashing on any given Sunday.
