Darcy Kuemper stopped all 16 shots he faced on Saturday evening as the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 7–0 in Game 2 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final.
The Avalanche now enjoy a 2–0 series lead as the action shifts to Amalie Arena in Tampa for Games 3 and 4 on Monday and Wednesday.
Colorado’s skaters fired 30 shots on goal in Saturday’s game and wasted little time in opening the scoring. With the Avs on the power play, Valeri Nichushkin beat Andrei Vasilevskiy from the low slot to make it 1–0 just 2:54 into the first period.
Andrei Burakovsky and Alex Newhook picked up the assists on Nichushkin’s seventh goal of the playoffs.
Josh Manson doubled the Avs’ lead just over five minutes later, streaking down the right side on a two-on-one rush and firing a wrister past Vasilevskiy.
Acquired from the Anaheim Ducks at the trade deadline in exchange for a second-round pick and prospect Drew Helleson, Manson now has three goals with Colorado in the playoffs.
After Burakovsky scored on a rebound late in the opening frame to make it 3–0, Nichushkin struck again early in the middle period to make it a four-goal game.
Mikko Rantanen stole the puck below the goal line and fired it into the slot, right where Nichushkin was waiting to one-time it past Vasilevskiy. His eighth of the playoffs made it a 4–0 game.
The Avs didn’t stop there. Darren Helm made it 5–0 late in the second period. Then, Cale Makar decided to make the final 20 minutes his own.
The 2022 Norris Trophy finalist scored twice in the third period to put Colorado up 7–0, a score that would hold through to the end of regulation.
Makar’s first goal came with the Avs down a man. It didn’t matter for the smooth-skating defenseman, who seemingly created an odd-man rush out of thin air before torching Vasilevskiy with a beautiful shot.
While Kuemper ended up posting a 16-save shutout, Vasilevskiy allowed seven goals on 30 shots.
Along with the rest of his team, the big Russian goaltender will look for retribution at 8:00 p.m. ET on Monday when his Lightning host the Avalanche in Game 3 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final.
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