DENVER – Colorado Avelanche can’t ask for a better opponent than Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup final, in a sense.
“To be the best, you have to beat the best, and these guys are defending consecutive Stanley Cup champions, so we’re excited,” Captain Gabriel Landeskog said on Sunday. “It will be a good match.”
Avalanche reached the Cup final by defeating the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference Finals with a 6-5 overtime victory in Game 4 of Rogers Place 4 in Edmonton on June 6.
They only knew their opponent five days later when Lightning eliminated the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference final with a 2-1 victory in Game 6 of the Amalie Arena in Tampa on Saturday.
Game 1 of the best of 7 series will be on Wednesday at the Ball Arena in Denver (20:00 ET; ESPN +, ABC, CBC, SN, TVAS).
“Obviously, they are a really good team,” said Avalanche defender Bowen Bayram. “They won consecutive Stanley Cups. But we are also confident. We have a really good team. It is not easy to reach the Cup final.
“As Gabe said, we are excited about the match. They are a really good team and we will have to do our best to beat them. But we are excited about this challenge. “
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Avalanche are 12-2 in the Stanley Cup playoffs and are not far behind in the series. They defeated the Nashville Predators in the first round of the Western Conference and defeated the St. Louis Blues in six games in the second round before defeating the Oilers.
But they did not face a team like Lightning, which beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games in the first round of the Eastern Conference and swept the Florida Panthers in the second round before eliminating the Rangers.
“The experience they have is invaluable at this time of year and I think they are finding ways to step up at this point in the season,” Landeskog said. “And when the playoffs spin, they manage to turn it on. Regular season, there were times when they fought and what not, but came this time, all just getting stronger.
“They are a strong team. They are good from the back up. He is obviously a good goalkeeper and strong in special teams – all these things. No team gets to this point without all this stuff. So, they have a lot of things for them, but so do we, so it’s going to be a fun series. “
Avalanche coach Jared Bednar gave a similar scout report.
“A really deep team,” Bednar said. “Great team in defense of things. Dangerous in attack. Great goalkeeping. I mean, they’re back where they are for a reason, right? So this is a very difficult team to win and we have to be ready for the challenge. “
Bednar said that Avalanche should play on their identity and should start with their skating. They will have to put the puck in the offensive end, then pass it through the blocking blows of Tampa Bay and then pass it past the goalkeeper Andrei Vassilevski.
“He’s big,” Landeskog said. “He is mobile. He does good readings. He seems to be a calm goalkeeper who makes the stops he has to make. Obviously, like in the West, they are in the East, you don’t see much of it during the year. Television, you only see so much. But yes, the best goalkeeper in the league. “
Avalanche had time to rest, restart and build up for the Cup final. They traveled home on Tuesday, took a break on Wednesday and skated on Thursday and Friday at their training slide in Centennial, Colorado. After taking a break on Saturday, they skated hard on Sunday at the Ball Arena.
Bednar said it was business in the locker room.
“Everyone already wants information and absorbs information,” Bednar said. “In our room we are talking about how to beat Tampa Bay Lightning.
“So, we had a day or two to relax, and then we went back to work and gradually became a little more intense in each workout. We are talking to our boys to make sure that we will compete hard against each other, so we are ready to go, just as we were for the last few series.
“I liked the work we did, so we just have to continue the process of what we need to do to be successful against everyone.”
Bednar said Lightning is the team after which every other team tries to model, win the Cup, stay among the best teams in the NHL and prove itself again and again. This match gives Avalanche a chance to prove themselves.
“The way I look at it is that if you want to be the best, you have to expect to be able to beat the best, so that’s them and we’re ready for the challenge,” Bednar said. “We are preparing for the challenge. You know it’s going to be a long, hard series and two great teams are going to do it, and we’re confident in what we’re doing, and I’m just as sure they’re back here too. “
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