Kucherov humiliated his opponent in the Cup final. But Tampa still lost.

Andrey SenchenkoSport correspondentAll materialsEmail to the author The Tampa Bay Lightning began with a loss to the Stanley Cup final series against the Colorado Avalanche. The reigning champions were not saved by Andrey Vasilevsky's 34 saves, Nikita Kucherov's graceful assist and Mikhail Sergachev's spectacular goal. The outcome of the match was decided by Valery Nichushkin, who scored two points. «Colorado Avalanche» — «Tampa Bay Lightning» — hockey fans and observers have been waiting for such a sign in the Stanley Cup final for the past two or three years, but they only saw it now. The Avalanches, frankly speaking, were somewhat lucky with the tournament grid: on the way to the decisive confrontation for the main NHL trophy, they defeated the helpless Nashville, beat St. Louis, who had lost their main goalkeeper, and unwound Edmonton on experience. “Tampa” also overcame the most difficult of possible obstacles. John Cooper's team was not embarrassed by the most powerful over the past 5-10 years, «Toronto», «Florida» with its formidable attack, and even «New York Rangers» Artemy Panarin and impenetrable Igor Shesterkin. After such a grandiose campaign, it is unlikely that anyone would turn their tongues to call the Lightning's third consecutive entry into the final accidental and undeserved. It is probably simply impossible to come up with a poster for the decisive battle for the Cup brighter today. The confrontation between “avalanches” and “lightning” is of double interest to the Russian audience: Valery Nichushkin has now volunteered to argue with his compatriots from “Tampa” for the trophy. In this regard, it is even a shame that the NHL on the eve of the first match of the series made a disappointing decision for the Russians to deny them the opportunity to bring the coveted cup to their native lands. And if Andrei Vasilevsky, Mikhail Sergachev and Nikita Kucherov had previously managed to walk in Russia with a trophy, then the Colorado forward was less fortunate.