Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 52: Nazem Kadri scores OT winner in return as Colorado Avalanche push Tampa Bay Lightning to the brink

It was an important game for the Colorado Avalanche, as after having full control of the series in the first two games, they did not want to be tied going back home while the Tampa Bay Lightning had all the momentum. Luckily for them, they had Nazem Kadri back in the lineup, and he proved to be vital for the Avs, scoring the OT winner in a 3-2 win in Game 4.

The action kicked off quickly, with the Lightning immediately pressuring in the offensive zone, with Darcy Kuemper making some spectacular early saves. But, Erik Cernak got the puck on net, and Anthony Cirelli was there to bury the rebound and give the Bolts the 1-0 lead.

Kuemper’s mask fell off during the play, but as explained here, it’s a legal goal.

The Lightning dominated the rest of the period on the shot clock by a total of 17-4, but as far as shot attempts go, it was much closer at just 21-19 at even strength. That said, they were much better as far as chances go, with 1.23 expected goals at 5v5 in the first, compared to Colorado’s 0.48.

The Avalanche started to actually get those shot attempts on net in the second period, and it paid off on the power play. Gabriel Landeskog has made a habit out of getting those dirty goals in front of the net in this series, and he gets another one here.

But five minutes later, Tampa Bay responded again, this time with a beautiful goal from Victor Hedman, skating up the ice, dangling around Valeri Nichushkin and Jack Johnson, and burying a backhand shot by Kuemper, and the Lightning took a 2-1 lead.

The Lightning thought they took a big loss later in the period, as Cirelli suffered a nasty skate cut to his arm from teammate Alex Killorn, and had to leave to the dressing room. He ended up returning for the third period, but wasn’t taking faceoffs.

Even though Cirelli returned, the bad luck continued for the Bolts at the start of the third. The Avs got an early goal in the period, as Nico Sturm pounced on a rebound from Darren Helm’s shot and it deflected off of Andrew Cogliano and in to tie the game at 2-2.

That ended up as the last goal of regulation, and we needed overtime to decide this one. Colorado was all over the Lightning in the first half of overtime, and almost ended it with this chance, but Bowen Byram hit the crossbar.

Thankfully for the Avs, that didn’t come back to bite them, as Nazem Kadri took advantage of a tired Lightning team, flew into the zone while receiving an Artturi Lehkonen stretch pass, and roofed one past Andrei Vasilevskiy to win the game for the Avs. With shades of Patrick Kane in 2010, the officials weren’t entirely sure if it went in at first, but after they found the puck in the back of the net, it was confirmed: the Avalanche had won the game 3-2, and now have a 3-1 series lead, with a chance to win the Cup in Colorado on Friday.

After people were questioning whether or not he should start in Game 4, Kuemper had a statement game. He stayed calm and composed when the Lightning were pressuring, and all in all stopped 38 of 40 shots to help the Avs in the win, and even assisted on the overtime winner.