TAMPA — Nazem Kadri scored 12:02 into overtime, and the Colorado Avalanche moved to within one victory of their first championship since 2001 with a 3-2 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final at Amalie Arena on Wednesday.
In his return after missing four games following hand surgery, Kadri cut to the net around Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev on the rush and lifted a shot under Andrei Vasilevskiy‘s right arm from low in the right face-off circle.
Nathan MacKinnon and Andrew Cogliano scored for Colorado, which trailed 1-0 after the first period and 2-1 after the second. Darcy Kuemper made 37 saves.
Anthony Cirelli and Victor Hedman scored, and Vasilevskiy made 35 saves for Tampa Bay, whose eight-game home winning streak ended.
The Avalanche lead the best-of-7 series 3-1 and can close it out at home in Game 5 on Friday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, CBC, SN, TVAS).
Cirelli capped a furious opening flurry to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead 36 seconds into the game. Kuemper made saves on Ryan McDonagh, Alex Killorn and Brandon Hagel before Erik Cernak‘s shot from the right circle knocked off his mask and Cirelli put the rebound in for his second goal in as many games.
Though Tampa Bay dominated the first period, outshooting Colorado 17-4, it could not add to its lead against Kuemper, who rebounded from being pulled in the second period of a 6-2 loss in Game 3, when he gave up five goals on 22 shots.
At the other end, the Avalanche had trouble getting shots through to Vasilevskiy with the Lightning blocking 12 shot attempts in the period.
MacKinnon tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal 5:17 into the second. He went to the net after passing the puck to Mikko Rantanen in the right circle, and Rantanen’s return pass deflected in off MacKinnon’s skate in front.
But Hedman put the Lightning back in front 2-1 at 10:42 by finishing off a weaving rush with a backhand from the right circle that went in over Kuemper’s right pad.
Cogliano tied it 2-2 at 2:53 of the third period by when Nico Sturm‘s rebound backhand deflected in off his leg in front.
Kadri had two shots in 18:42 of ice time.
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