Hockey Talk

A 7-0 Loss for Lightning

Jon Cooper had no idea what to do. Going down 1-0, maybe even 2-0 is something understandable. Cooper had been in a situation like that before. But when it came to being down 5-0 we all could see that Jon Cooper had no clue what to do. 

It was obvious that Vasilevskiy was miserable. After pretty much being the best goalie in the league he was allowing multiple goals past him. It was obvious that this goaltender was not having fun and who would be in this case. 

The issue for Tampa Bay was that Colorado was so fast. In the beginning period Coach Cooper has said that his team was just on their heels and they needed to pick up the pace. Though that quicker pace never happened. 

The Ads had 11 different players scoring points. It was not just the big three of Landeskog, MacKinnon, and Rantanen scoring points. 11 different players from the offense and defense contributing to this huge win for this team. 

The Avalanche's record is now  14-2 in these playoffs. Only losing two games to the Blues in the second round. 

2004 was the last time the Lightning faced a deficit this big. So it was beyond safe to say that collectively, as a team, this was a change for these players. Even in the regular season, losing by seven goals is something that doesn't happen often to this team. 

Kucherov was moved on to a line with Point after the first period. He started with his normal line of Stamkos and Palat. Moving Kucherov to a line with Brayden Point was done in hopes to spark some offense but unfortunately for the Lightning, it didn't. 

Tampa Bay has lost the first game in each of their playoff series so far this season. They started down 1-0 in the Toronto series, 2-0 against the Rangers, and now 2-0 against the Avalanche. Both of the last tow series had to go to a game 7. 

Early penalties in tonight's game like McDonagh's at just 18:59 did not help any of the momentum. Which could be part of the reason Colorado had a 2 goal lead in the first 10 minutes in both games this series. In the penalty area though, penalties did not stop Colorado as one of Cale Makar's goals was scored off a shorthanded breakaway. 

A lot of tonights attention, especially in the third could be given to Cale Makar. Who has a lot of similarities as Bobby Orr. He has such a game changing offensive skill with great knowledge of when to jump in the play.  

Tampa Bay has to find out how to slow down this Colorado team. this includes slowing  Mackinnon down in the neutral zone that they had left wide open for him to make room.

This has been the second biggest shutout in Stanley Cup Final  history. The last shutout with a larger gap was when the Penguins won 8-0 in 1991. 

Reeling back into tonight's game the three stars were as followed. 

3rd- Cale Makar

2nd- Darcy Keumper

1st- Val Nichushkin with 2 goals. This has been a player who has really stepped it up and contributed here in these playoffs. He had the great play and assist on Burakovsky's game winner in overtime of game 1. Tonight he had 2 goals.

Can the Avalanche travel to every territory and play this same way? Can the Lightning find a way to slow down this team? How is Vasilevskiy going to bounce back form such a performance? 

All questions to be answered on Monday.