Nhl, final: Colorado spoils the match point, Tampa Bay reopens the games

Over? Not a chance. The NHL final not only continues, but is suddenly reopened. Tampa Bay, with its back to the wall and looking stunned, gives a big flick of the tail, reminding everyone that the last two Stanley Cups did not end up on its bulletin board by accident. Under 3-1 in the series, he canceled a match-point by winning Game-5 at the Ball Arena, Colorado fort, 3-2 (1-0, 1-1, 1-1) and postponing the verdict for at least 48 hours. “We want the Cup”, “We want the Cup” have long sang the AVS fans. Instead we return to Florida, at the Amelie Arena: game-6 takes place at 20 local time on Sunday, 2 Italian on Monday. With the eventual seventh and final game, back in Denver on Tuesday night.

Prediction reversed

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It seemed that the verdict was already written. Colorado, in front of its audience, was ready to celebrate the third title in its history. And Tampa Bay destined to see the dream of becoming the first franchise to win for three consecutive seasons after the 1980-1984 New York Islanders poker fade. None of this. The hero of the day in the Lightning house is Ondrej Palat, 31 year old Czech winger from Frydek-Mistek, nicknamed by his teammates “Snake Pete” for his ability to suddenly wedge himself into the mesh of the opposing defenses. After Cale Maker’s 2-2 goal at 2’31 ”in the third period (Avalanche’s second engagement in the match), the grand finale seemed to be upon us. Instead, the snake bite arrived: Palat, 6’22 ”from the siren that would have sanctioned the end of regular time, scored the final 3-2.

for the story

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“We have never lost confidence – he will say later – we have continued to look for the balustrade and we have not disunited”. For the Czech – to the delight of coach Jon Cooper above all – thus arrived the 12th career goal capable of deciding a playoff match: only Joe Pavelski (Dallas) with 13 and Evgeny Malkin (Pittsburgh) with 14 boast of more in Nhl. “They are a great team, very experienced – said Gabriel Landeskog, Colorado captain – and at these levels nothing is easy or obvious. We knew it wouldn’t be a walk in the park, but even more so now we live one game at a time, like a battle ”. The Avalanche have paid above all for an opaque first part of the match and now they risk becoming the first team unable to win the title starting from a situation of 3-1 after Detroit lost that of 1942 after being 3-0 ahead. Tampa Bay, despite the knockout in the overtime of Game-4 and the twelfth post-season series in three seasons, still has energy to spend. That’s the beauty of the Stanley Cup Finals.