Behind a goal and an assist from Nathan MacKinnon, the Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup for the third time in franchise history and first in more than two decades by beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 in Game 6 of the final Sunday night.
(The Lightning won Game 5 on Friday night, 3-2.)
After an early turnover by Cale Makar leading to Steven Stamkos’ goal, the Avalanche tied it when MacKinnon beat 2021 playoff MVP Andrei Vasilevskiy with a near-perfect shot and went ahead on another big goal by Artturi Lehkonen. They locked things down by holding on to the puck and not letting Tampa Bay even shoot the puck on Darcy Kuemper in the third period.
Cale Makar won the Conn Smythe after leading Colorado in scoring with 29 points in 20 games.
