Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 15: Tampa Bay Lightning power play dominates, Colorado Avalanche need overtime to take Game 1

Scott Maxwell
Scott Maxwell
Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 15: Tampa Bay Lightning power play dominates, Colorado Avalanche need overtime to take Game 1
Credit: © Ron Chenoy

We had our first taste of second-round action, so who got the start they wanted?

Missed anything? Here’s a recap of the night’s action.

Lightning power play proves to be the difference

The Tampa Bay Lightning picked up right where they left off, in terms of the playoffs as well as their playoff rivalry against the Florida Panthers, and reminded the Cats who the back-to-back defending Stanley Cup champs are.

It didn’t come without hiccups, as the Panthers opened the scoring in the first with a goal from Anthony Duclair, but Tampa’s depth rallied the Bolts to a 2-1 lead with goals in the second and third.

Then the Panthers had a couple calls that didn’t go their way. The first one was a power play goal that not only would have tied the game, it would have ended their power play drought since the start of the playoffs, but was (deservedly) waved off because it hit the netting above the glass. The second one was a power play goal from Nikita Kucherov with 4:06 left in the game that got looked at for goaltender interference from Anthony Cirelli, but it was still a good goal, giving the Lightning a 3-1 lead. Did Cirelli knock Sergei Bobrovsky’s head enough to call it back, or was it a good goal?

To make matters worse for the Panthers, the failed challenge gave the Lightning another power play, which Ross Colton scored on to make it 4-1, and the Lightning took Game 1.

Manson’s overtime winner gives Avs Game 1 win

The Colorado Avalanche also picked up right where they left off with the St. Louis Blues in the playoffs, dominating them just like they did in 2021. But, the Blues are a much better team now, so while the Avs overwhelmed them, St. Louis used opportunistic scoring and goaltending to make it a much closer battle. In fact, it opened the scoring, as Ryan O’Reilly scored on his old team just 6:25 in to give the Blues the 1-0 lead.

After that, it was pretty much all Avs. They were relentless with the puck, throwing everything at Jordan Binnington, getting two goals past him in the second period from Valeri Nichushkin and Samuel Girard to give the Avs the lead.

But the opportunistic scoring came in handy again for the Blues in the third period, as Jordan Kyrou scored with 3:14 in the game to tie it and send it to overtime.

If you thought the Avs were dominating in regulation, they took it to another level in overtime, outshooting the Blues 13-0 in just over eight minutes before Josh Manson scored the game-winning goal. The officials looked at it for goaltender interference, but Manson scored long enough after the infraction for it to count, and the Avs won Game 1. Binnington finished the game with 51 saves, but it wasn’t enough for the win.

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