2022 Stanley Cup Finals
1 2 3 4 5 6 Total Tampa Bay Lightning 3* 0 6 2* 3 1 2 Colorado Avalanche 4* 7 2 3* 2 2 4
* – Denotes overtime period(s)
Location(s)	Tampa: Amalie Arena (3, 4, 6) Denver: Ball Arena (1, 2, 5)
Coaches	Tampa Bay: Jon Cooper Colorado: Jared Bednar
Captains	Tampa Bay: Steven Stamkos Colorado: Gabriel Landeskog
National anthems	Tampa Bay: Sonya Bryson-Kirksey Colorado: Amanda Hawkins
Referees	Gord Dwyer (1, 3, 6) Jean Hebert (2, 5) Wes McCauley (2, 4) Chris Rooney (3, 5) Kelly Sutherland (1, 4, 6)
Dates	June 15–26, 2022
MVP	Cale Makar (Avalanche)
Series-winning goal	Artturi Lehkonen (12:28, Second, G6)
Networks	Canada: (English): CBC/Sportsnet[1] (French): TVA Sports United States: (English): ABC/ESPN+[2]
Announcers	(CBC/SN) Chris Cuthbert and Craig Simpson[1] (TVA) Felix Seguin, Alexandre R. Picard (Games 1–2) and Patrick Lalime (Games 3–6) (ABC) Sean McDonough and Ray Ferraro[2] (NHL International) Marc Moser (Game 1), E. J. Hradek (Games 2–6) and Kevin Weekes[3][4]
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The 2022 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2021–22 season and the culmination of the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs. The series was between the Eastern Conference and two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning and the Western Conference champion Colorado Avalanche. The Avalanche won the best-of-seven series, four games to two, for their third championship in franchise history. Colorado had home ice advantage in the series with the better regular season record.^[5]

The series began on June 15, and concluded on June 26.^[5] With the Government of Canada allowing cross-border travel for fully vaccinated players and team personnel between Canada and the United States,^[6][7] the league was able to return to its usual two conference alignment and reinstate its standard playoff format that was used from 2014–2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.^[8] The Finals were still pushed from the usual start date in late May/early June for the third consecutive year,^[9][10] this time due to a scheduled break in the regular season that coincided with the league's planned participation in the 2022 Winter Olympics,^[11] though the league's players ultimately did not participate in the Olympics.^[12] When NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman tested positive for COVID-19, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly took over the presentation of the Conn Smythe Trophy and the Stanley Cup. This was the first time since 1992 that Gary Bettman did not give the presentation.^[13]

Paths to the Finals

Tampa Bay Lightning

This was Tampa Bay's third consecutive Finals appearance and fifth overall. They won the prior (2020, 2021) two Stanley Cups and have won three in franchise history.^[14] They were the first team to clinch three consecutive Finals appearances since the 1983–1985 Edmonton Oilers. The Lightning joined the Montreal Canadiens (1976–1980) and New York Islanders (1980–1984) for becoming the only teams in league history to post at least eleven consecutive playoff series victories.^[15]

Captain Steven Stamkos led the team in scoring with 106 points during the regular season. Defenceman Victor Hedman scored 85 points, eclipsing the previous Tampa Bay record for defencemen, which Hedman set in 2017. During the off-season, the Lightning signed goaltender Brian Elliott, defenceman Zach Bogosian, and forwards Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Corey Perry via free agency.^{[16][17][18][19]} They also opted to re-sign forwards Brayden Point and Ross Colton and defenceman Cal Foote with Patrick Maroon re-signing during the season.^{[20][21][22][23]} At the trade deadline, the Lightning acquired forwards Brandon Hagel and Nick Paul.^[24][25] For Corey Perry, this was his third straight Finals appearance with three different teams (Dallas Stars in 2020, Montreal Canadiens in 2021), the first player to accomplish this feat since Marian Hossa did it with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2008, Detroit Red Wings in 2009, and Chicago Blackhawks in 2010.^[26]

The Lightning finished third in the Atlantic Division gaining 110 points with a 51–23–8 record. Tampa Bay defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round in seven games,^[27] followed by a four-game sweep of their intrastate rival, the Florida Panthers,^[28] during the second round, and then triumphed over the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference final in six games.^[29]

Colorado Avalanche

This was Colorado's third appearance in the Finals. They won their two prior appearances with their most recent against the New Jersey Devils in 2001.^[30]

Mikko Rantanen led the team in points, scoring 92 overall.^[31] Goaltender Darcy Kuemper started 57 times for the Avalanche, obtaining 37 wins in the process.^[32] However, during Game 1 of their Conference Final series, Kuemper left the game with an upper-body injury. Backup goaltender Pavel Francouz finished the opening game after replacing Kuemper and started the remaining games of the series as a result.^[33] During the off-season, the Avalanche traded for Kuemper and defenceman Kurtis MacDermid.^[34][35] They also picked up free agent Darren Helm.^[36] They re-signed defenceman Cale Makar, captain Gabriel Landeskog, and Francouz.^[37][38][39] Nearing the trade deadline, the Avalanche acquired Josh Manson, Nico Sturm, Artturi Lehkonen, and Andrew Cogliano.^{[40][41][42][43]}

The Avalanche finished the season with 119 points via a 56–19–7 record, grabbing the Central Division title and first place in the Western Conference.^[44] Colorado swept the Nashville Predators in four games during the first round,^[45] then defeated the St. Louis Blues in six games during the second round,^[46] before sweeping the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference final.^[47]

Game summaries

Note: The numbers in parentheses represent each player's total goals or assists to that point of the entire playoffs.

Game one

In game one, the Avalanche controlled the first period scoring three times compared to the Lightning's one goal. Colorado's captain Gabriel Landeskog began the scoring, pushing the puck past Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy when Mikko Rantanen's shot barely squeaked under the goaltender's pads.^[48] The next goal came when defenceman Victor Hedman's clearing attempt got picked by Nathan MacKinnon, whose pass to Valeri Nichushkin made it 2–0.^[49] The Lightning halved Colorado's lead when Brayden Point's dump-in was retrieved by Nick Paul who broke in and dangled out Avalanche goaltender Darcy Kuemper to make 2–1.^[50] The Avalanche regained the two-goal lead five minutes later when Tampa was in a 5-on-3 penalty kill. MacKinnon's shot got blocked and on the rebound he passed back to Landeskog who set up Rantanen for a wrist shot that got tipped in by Artturi Lehkonen.^[51] In the second period, the Lightning got two goals to tie the game. Ondrej Palat scored the first goal as he and Nikita Kucherov entered the zone with the latter going inside-out on Devon Toews to set up Palat for the tip-in.^[52] 1:48 later, the Lightning continuing their offensive zone attack had a pass back to Mikhail Sergachev from Brandon Hagel whose shot through traffic went off the post and into the net.^[53] The third period did not have any scoring albeit the Avalanche firing 12 shots compared to the Lightning's 5 shots, thus the game went into overtime.^[54] In overtime, as the Lightning attempted to clear the zone, J. T. Compher picked up the loose puck and shot it, but it was blocked by a Lightning defenceman.^[55] The puck then came to Nichushkin who passed to Andre Burakovsky and he fired a snap shot past Vasilevskiy to give Colorado a 4–3 victory.^[55][56]

Game two

The Avalanche routed the Lightning in game two. In the first period, after Lightning defenceman Ryan McDonagh got penalized for roughing J. T. Compher, a power-play ensued for Colorado. During it, Andre Burakovsky led a cross-ice pass to Valeri Nichushkin's tip-in goal to give the Avalanche an early 1–0 lead. The Avalanche then grabbed a 2–0 lead when a 2-on-1 rush with Andrew Cogliano and Josh Manson led to the latter's wrist shot under Andrei Vasilevskiy's blocker. Burakovsky then made it 3–0 when the Avalanche on an offensive zone rush had Mikko Rantanen's shot rebound to Burakovsky for the quick tip-in. Burakovsky almost made it 4–0 when he was given a breakaway thanks to Rantanen's lead pass. In the second period, the Avalanche continued their offensive zone coverage allowing Rantanen to centre a pass to Nichushkin to make it 4–0. The Avalanche then made it 5–0 when the Lightning misplayed a pass leading Darren Helm and Logan O'Connor on a 2-on-1 break for which the former's wrist shot went over Vasilevskiy's glove. O'Connor was also given a breakaway chance to make it 6–0, but the Lightning goaltender stopped that. In the third period, as Rantanen was in the penalty box for tripping, the Lightning gave the puck away to Cale Makar who, with Andrew Cogliano on another 2-on-1, made it 6–0. Ondrej Palat then got called for cross checking and on the ensuing power-play, Nathan MacKinnon made a pass to Rantanen, who quickly passed to Makar for his second goal of the evening to make 7–0. With frustrations boiling over for Tampa Bay, four of their players were called for roughing for which Colorado retaliated with their own roughing calls. However, the Avalanche claimed a 7–0 victory with Darcy Kuemper stopping the 16 shots he faced.^[57]