OT goal lifts Avalanche over Lightning 3-2 in Game 4
TAMPA, FLORIDA - JUNE 22: Head Coach Jon Cooper and Pat Maroon #14 of the Tampa Bay Lightning react during the third period against the Colorado Avalanche in Game Four of the 2022 NHL Stanley Cup Final at Amalie Arena on June 22, 2022 in Tampa, Flori
TAMPA, Fla. - Nazem Kadri scored at 12:02 of overtime and the Colorado Avalanche beat Tampa Bay 3-2 on Wednesday night in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final to move within a victory of dethroning the two-time defending champion Lightning.
Playing for the first time since June 4 due to a thumb injury, Kadri skated in on Andrei Vasilevskiy and slipped a shot under the goaltender's right arm to give Colorado a 3-1 series lead.
The Avalanche outshot the Lightning 11-3 in the extra period. Vasilevskiy stopped Logan O'Connor on a breakaway, and Colorado had a shot clang off the post and another hit the crossbar before Kadri ended it.
Game 5 is Friday night in Denver, where Colorado won the first two games of the series and are 7-2 this postseason.
TAMPA, FLORIDA - JUNE 22: Steven Stamkos #91 of the Tampa Bay Lightning yells at linesman Kiel Murchison #79 after getting tangled up with him during overtime against the Colorado Avalanche in Game Four of the 2022 NHL Stanley Cup Final at Amalie Are
Anthony Cirelli scored 36 seconds into the game and Victor Hedman also scored in regulation for the Lightning. They took a 2-1 lead into the third period.
Nathan MacKinnon scored on a second-period power play for Colorado, and Andrew Cogliano tied it early in the third.
Darcy Kuemper, pulled from Game 3 after giving up five goals in a 6-2 loss, stopped 37 shots for the Avalanche.
Vasilevskiy finished with 35 saves. He has rebounded from allowing 11 goals in Games 1 and 2 to limit the high-scoring Avalanche to five the past two games.
The Lightning are trying to become the first team to win at least three straight Stanley Cup titles since the New York Islanders won four in a row from 1980-83. The Avalanche last hoisted the Cup in 2001.
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