Can Lightning complete Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final tonight in Tampa?
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Avalanche had a chance to finish the job Friday in Denver, but should finally recover tonight in an environment that will be even more hostile.
Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final will be shown at 7:00 pm on TVA Sports and live on TVA Sports.
The big task of the avalanche will be to overcome Andrei Vasilievsky. Russia’s Lightning guard dominated on Friday, with Darcy Comber allowing at least one false goal. The goalkeeping issue was for many what could make the difference for Lightning in the series. It wasn’t necessarily until game five, but we got to the final duels and generally the entire Lightning defense, including the goalkeeper, knows how to shut the door on such occasions.
Thus, their work was interrupted by the avalanche. But coach Jared Bednar still believes in Comber. If the 32-year-old goalkeeper decides to put together a big game tonight, carrots may be cooked for the two-time Stanley Cup champions.
What will also help the avalanche is another big performance from defender Cal Makar, who has seven points since the start of this series. The record for points in the final, for a defender, is 11. Makar could end up getting to it and the last to do so, Brian Leach, took home the Coon-Smith Cup.
For Lightning, the goal is a ninth home win in the playoffs for the third year in a row. The great advantage of a group of players is their experience in such situations.
“This team is not going to give up and that’s what amazes me,” coach John Cooper said in a hangar at a private airport in Denver before Lightning’s return to Tampa. We get hit, we fall on the rug, but we always get up.
Cooper indicated at midday that striker Brayden Point would once again miss tonight’s game.