Colorado Crushed: Bolts take Game 3, Avs look for answers

It was by no means going to be *that* straightforward for the Colorado Avalanche, or did they trick you into pondering it might be?

Taking over the two-time reigning champs, it’s not that straightforward; the Tampa Bay Lightning lastly received on the board in Monday’s Sport 3, successful 6-2. The Bolts’ dominant exhibiting got here two nights after a 7-0 blowout win by Colorado. However with issues turning to Tampa, the Lightning discovered their footing, even working Avs beginning goalie Darcy Kuemper from the sport.

“He didn’t have a great night time and neither did our workforce,” Jared Bednar stated of Kuemper.

Gabriel Landeskog truly scored the sport’s first objective, however the Bolts responded with two later within the interval to get their first lead of the sequence.

Landeskog was the Avs’ lone objective scorer, netting two on the facility play.

The distinction between the blowouts have been a goalie pull, the non-clean sheet, and letting off the gasoline. Colorado by no means let off the gasoline in Sport 2, not like Tampa, who sat again for your entire closing body of their beat ’em down.

“This was just about a must-win sport for us,” Bolts chief Steven Stamkos stated.

In lower than 48 hours, Colorado must work out who their beginning goalie is, how wholesome Andre Burakovsky is—he was injured in Sport 2 and was scratched from Sport 3—and if Nazem Kadri can go. Kadri is recovering from hand surgical procedure and traveled with the workforce to Florida. If he’s on the journey, there needs to be hope that perhaps the All-Star can swimsuit up. After all, Colorado’s large query is response which has been good a lot of the 12 months after losses and nice this postseason. However the Avs haven’t been crushed like this in a very long time.

It was Colorado’s third lack of the postseason and the second by a number of objectives. The Avs solely misplaced by 4 or extra objectives twice within the common season and hadn’t executed it since a defeat to the Bruins in late February.

“He’s been nice all 12 months. We’re not gonna get down on him in any respect,” Nathan MacKinnon stated of Kuemper.

Sport 4 is slated for Wednesday night time. The loss ensures one other Colorado residence night time, Sport 5 on Friday.

“They didn’t dangle their head after dropping Sport 2, and we’re not going to tonight,” MacKinnon stated. “Good or unhealthy, we’re not going to commerce our spot with anybody on the earth. We be ok with our workforce.”

“That is the Stanley Cup Closing, we weren’t anticipating a sweep,” MacKinnon stated.

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