No Shortage of Firepower In Stanley Cup Final Goalfest

On Saturday, the Avalanche decimated the Lightning 7-0 in Game 2. Two days later, Tampa Bay struck back with a 6-2 victory in Game 3.

So much for defense winning championships: This year’s Stanley Cup Final is a veritable goalfest, with the two teams trading devastating haymakers.

Neither the Avs nor the Bolts dominated the regular season in GF/G, with respective rankings of fourth (3.8) and eighth (3.5), but they’ve collectively taken out four of the NHL’s top seven this postseason (Florida, Toronto, St. Louis, Edmonton) — and are now training their sights on each other.

• The Lightning were the first team to win an SCF game after losing by 7+ goals since 1919.
• The Avalanche lead the postseason with 4.59 GF/G.
• This series, only nine skaters haven’t recorded at least a point.

Colorado is getting its points from the usual sources: Mikko Rantanen (7), Cale Makar (4), Gabriel Landeskog (4), and Valeri Nichushkin (4). The first three are the Avs’ highest-paid players, combining for a cap hit of $25.3 million this season.

For Tampa Bay, Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman, and Ondrej Palat — who respectively rank second ($9.5M), fourth ($7.9M), and eighth ($5.3M) on the team for 2021-22 cap hits — each have three points.

Sporting a 2-1 series lead and home-ice advantage, the Avalanche remain the favorites (-310) to capture the Stanley Cup.