By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
More money, more revenues.
The Tampa Bay Lightning and the National Hockey League will collect more cash thanks to the two-time defending champs extending the Stanley Cup Final with a Game 5 win over the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena in downtown Denver Friday evening.
The series shifts to downtown Tampa’s Channelside district, allowing Lightning owner Jeff Vinik and the league to pad their bank accounts with more ticket revenues and merchandise sales. Game 6 is Sunday, 5PM PT/8PM ET. In the playoffs, home teams and the NHL share game ticket revenues.
Tonight, the Lightning never trailed thanks to goals by Jan Rutta in the first period, Nikita Kucherov in the second period (a power play goal that was his first of the Final) and Ondrej Palat in the third, which was another late-game game-winner for the clutch Palat.
Palat delivered the winning goal with only 6:22 left in the game:
The Stanley Cup trophy was in the arena in the Platte Valley on Denver Friday. It will take a flight to Tampa International Airport.
As Lightning coach Jon Cooper put it regarding his team’s ability to play clutch Stanley Cup hockey, “We’ve been here. We know the feeling. Champions have a skill set like no other. The skill set is between the ears.”
The Avalanche, eliminated by the Vegas Golden Knights in the second round of last year’s playoffs, had won 15 of 18 postseason games in 2022 entering tonight’s Game 5.
Of the previous 37 times that a team was up three games to one in the Cup Final, only one team in NHL history recovered to win the famed trophy.
After Game 5, Lightning center Steven Samkos said, “Let’s get back to Tampa in front of our fans.”
Tampa’s all-world goalie, Andrei Vasilevskiy, outplayed Avalanche netminder Darcy Kuemper. Vasi stopped 35 of 37 shots on goal.
“Vasi was great. We just find a way to win,” Palat said.
“We’re still alive,” Cooper added.
The NHL provided the stats behind Tampa Bay’s clutch play:
* Overall, the Lightning improved to 14-10 all-time when facing elimination including a 3-0 mark in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
* Tampa Bay owns a playoff record of 20-2 in the game immediately following a loss since falling to Philadelphia during the 2020 Stanley Cup Qualifiers. The Lightning have outscored opponents by a combined 81-44 margin in those contests.
* Vasilevskiy has manned the Tampa Bay crease in each postseason contest following a defeat dating to 2020, going 20-2 with a 1.83 goals-against average, .932 save percentage and five shutouts in those games.
Entering Game 5, the NHL put a positive spin on the TV ratings:
And if the Avalanche wrap up a Stanley Cup title this season, Colorado will tie the NHL record for most overall wins in a single season:
LVSportsBiz.com’s Stanley Cup Final coverage presented by real estate agent Liz Lane of Las Vegas and ISM bicycle saddles of Tampa