Only this dominant Avalanche team could stop the Lightning’s Stanley Cup dynasty bid

It has been 637 days since someone else other than the Tampa Bay Lightning were Stanley Cup champions.

One year, eight months, and 30 days of dominance from the Lightning, of complete and total control over the NHL after winning 11 straight playoff series. But as the sun rises on a new week, it is the Colorado Avalanche that now stands above the rest as your 2022 Stanley Cup champions.

It feels only right that this Avalanche team was the one to finally best the final boss of the NHL for two seasons running. After failing to get past the second round in three straight seasons, Colorado swept the Predators to begin the playoffs, powered through a gritty Blues squad in round two, swept the talented Oilers in the Western Conference Final, and finally, finally knocked the Lightning from their throne to win it all on Sunday.

We know just how good the Lightning have been over the last few seasons during their run as the best team in the modern NHL. And that’s an undisputed fact too. The Lightning are the best, most successful, and most well-constructed team we’ve seen in the NHL since the turn of the century. Since 2012-13, the Lightning lead the league in both regular season wins (448) and playoff wins (84). That their reign has lasted this long is a testament to just how deep and talented this team is.

Despite all of that, all of the talk of dynasties realized and greatness achieved, the Avalanche looked absolutely dominant against this Lightning team in the Stanley Cup Final.

After this series, the Lightning truly know how it feels to face a team of their caliber and come away wanting. The biggest factor in the Avalanche’s overpowering presence in this series was the difference in power play efficiency. Colorado went 6-for-16 (or 37.5 percent) over the course of six games, scoring at a relentless pace Tampa could never match. The Lightning? A pitiful 2-for-19 for 10.5 percent overall.

Once the Avalanche took the 2-1 lead in the second period of Game 6 thanks to Artturi Lehkonen’s magnificent game winner, Colorado completely clamped down on Tampa to play one of the best shutdown periods in hockey, allowing just four Lightning shots in the final 20 minutes.

Sunday’s historic victory was a team effort all around for the Avalanche, stealing another page out of the Lightning’s playbook. Lehkonen scored the game-winner. Darcy Kuemper shut the door on any chance of a Tampa Bay comeback after being shaky at times in the Stanley Cup Final. Nathan MacKinnon tallied two points, including scoring the tying goal in the second period. Nazem Kadri had the last laugh against his critics after unfairly taking racist abuse from hockey fans in a shameful display.

But, of course, we can’t forget Cale Makar, who just won the Norris Trophy for the best defenseman last week at the NHL Awards and added the Conn Smythe Trophy as the cherry on top for being the playoff MVP. Quite a passing of the torch moment between Makar, a 23-year-old face of the NHL’s future, and Victor Hedman, previous Norris Trophy and Conn Smythe winner during his time with the Lightning.

It was always going to take a special kind of team to knock the Lightning off their pedestal. After all, for the last three seasons, the Lightning were the ultimate final boss of the NHL. The Sephiroth to the rest of the league’s Cloud Strife. The Darth Vader to the Luke Skywalkers of the NHL. And this year’s Stanley Cup Final more than delivered as the heart-stopping, pulse-pounding final clash between two determined, powerful forces.

Yet, at the end of the day, it was only the Avalanche that could take down the Lightning once and for all with a taste of their own medicine.