DENVER, COLORADO - JUNE 14: The Conn Smythe Trophy and the Stanley Cup are on display during the 2022 NHL Stanley Cup Final Media Day at Ball Arena on June 14, 2022 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Stanley Cup finals 2021-2022 preview: The Colorado Avalanche are favourites in the finals and already have won the first two games
The 2021-2022 Staley Cup Finals are well and truly underway with the Colorado Avalanche and the Tampa Bay Lightning fighting it out for the title.
The NHL finals are one of the biggest events in the sporting calendar and many top sites such as Betway provide odds for finals.
The Lightning are looking to complete an incredible three-peat having won the last two Stanley Cups. In fact, Tampa Bay’s third consecutive finals appearance is the first time a team has achieved this since the Edmonton Oilers did this from 1983 to 1985.
The Avalanche, for their part, are playing in their first finals since 2001, but they dominated their division to reach the finals.
While the Lightning came third in the Atlantic Division, but made it to the playoffs, the Avalanche won the Western Conference but were only second to the Florida Panthers (Eastern Conference) in points for the season.
The Lightning come into the finals having won the two previous Stanley Cups.This is their fifth appearance in the finals, and out of the four previous ones, they have won three.
The Lightning have a 75% winning rate in finals, but they are up against one of the best in terms of winning finals.
The Avalanche have been in two other finals apart from 2022, and have won both of them. They won the 1996 finals and 2001 finals.
Any final series is tough to predict given how anything can happen in such games. However, there are a few names that could make the difference in these games.
Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning is the highest-scoring active player in the series with 24 points from 18 games.
The Russian has seven goals and 17 assists in these games and has been doing the damage for Tampa Bay throughout the season.
The Avalanche also have several names on scoring streaks such as Nathan McKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen, who all have 19 points each from 15 games in the playoffs.
The goaltenders for the teams are also two of the best in the entire playoffs. Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Lightning has a save percentage of .926 while Darcy Kuemper of the Avalanche has a lower save percentage of .895.
The first game of the finals was a close one with the winner being decided in overtime. It was the Avalanche that took the lead in the seven-game series via a 4-3 win, however, the second game was a one-sided event as Avalanche trashed Tampa Bay 7-0. Both Tampa Bay and Colorado go into the game with Betway having them at 2.35 odds to win it and 4.20 for a draw.
The Lightning might have the recent finals experience but they are seen as the underdogs and have an outright winner odd of 3.0.
In fact, the Avalanche are also slight favourites to win the third game and take a 3-0 lead in the finals.
While the odds seem to favour the Avalanche, the experience of the Lightning in recent years cannot be ignored.
Tampa Bay have the ability to turn any series around, and they need to bounce back in the second game.
Should the Avalanche go into a 3-0 lead, it would be difficult to catch them and win the Stanley Cup for the Lightning.
Prediction – Colorado Avalanche win the Stanley Cup in 6 games.