6/14/22
The final is set for the greatest trophy in all sports. The storylines are epic. The Colorado Avalanche, with a revived and youthful fanbase who is starving for their first banner in Ball Arena since 2001, taking on the Tampa Bay Lightning, the 2-time defending champs, looking for the Jordan 3-peat. This is going to be a finals of the ages.
Let’s look at the Western Conference Champs, the Colorado Avalanche. The Avs are far and beyond better then the Bolts in almost every category. From the forwards and the defenseman, they are much much better then the Lightning. Nathan MacKinnon is playing like a man possessed, and has an amazing support crew with Gabriel Landeskog and Nazem Kadri mucking things up in between the lines. The Avs also have the greatest defenseman in the world, arguably the greatest player in the world in Cale Makar. He played McDavid in the Western Conference Finals almost effortlessly, which is absurd. His support with the other defensemen, specifically Devon Toews make the blue liners for this team formidable. The two edges I think they lose out on is the goaltending and the coaching.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are potentially the team of the era, and it would be solidified with a third cup in a row. It starts in between the pipes with the greatest goalie in the world, Andrei Vasilevskiy. Vassy is so consistent and so reliable for this team on their way to back to back to back Stanley Cup Finals appearances. He is almost impossible to beat after a loss and is a brick wall when it comes to series clinching games. Part of that is because upfront with the rest of the skaters they are mentally ready for every series, and that comes from the players being mentally ready by their head coach, John Cooper. Cooper knows how to get his players ready for each game and knows how to push his players in different ways to get the best out of each one. These two teams are evenly matched and both deserve to be in the finals, but who’s gonna win?
The Avalanche, on paper, are a better team then the Lightning in my opinion. Would this be any other game or series, I would give the advantage to them. But this is the Stanley Cup Finals. The Lightning have way more experience in this series all over the place, and so do the new players on the team as well. Corey Perry has been in the lineup against the Lightning in the previous two finals for the Dallas Stars and the Montreal Canadiens and lost to the Bolts in both years. In my opinion, this means a lot for a chance to win the cup. I think the Lightning are going to win the Stanley Cup for the third year in a row because they aren’t showing signs of slowing down. Yes, the Avs are very good, but the edge of experience means too much in this race to first to four. On top of that, the injuries for both teams are going to be a factor during this series. The Avs aren’t sure if Kadri is going to play, which is a big concern if I’m an Avs fan. On top of that the Bolts might get Braden Point back during this series which would be a huge swing of momentum for Tampa. Regardless, I think Tampa Bay will win this series in 6 games, and leave the Cup back on the beaches of Tampa Bay.
Sports n Stuff 