The Bolts came out strong, grabbing the lead less than four minutes into the game on a Steven Stamkos goal. Unfortunately, that would be as good as things got for Tampa Bay.
Colorado took the lead for good with a pair of second period goals and then shut things down effectively in the third. Even with the Lightning needing a goal to keep their season alive, Colorado limited them to only 4 shots on goal in the final 20 minutes of play.
The loss ends Tampa Bay's two-year reign on top of the NHL and sends them into the offseason a game earlier than they had hoped.
Scoring Summary
1st Period
TBL 1, COL 0
3:48 Steven Stamkos (11) - Ondrej Palat
On the game-opening goal, Tampa Bay's top line got to work grinding away behind the Avs net. Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos eventually combined to strip Cale Makar of the puck and knocked it free to Ondrej Palat at the right circle. The puck caromed off Palat's left skate back to Stamkos alone in front and he swept it past Darcy Kuemper to stake the Lightning to an early lead.
2nd Period
TBL 1, COL 1
1:54 Nathan MacKinnon (13) - Bowen Byram, Gabriel Landeskog
Bowen Byram teed up Nathan MacKinnon for a one-timer from a sharp angle below the left circle that beat Andrei Vasilevskiy to the near post before he could get over to cover. The goal came on a delayed penalty call, and the Bolts tried the argument that Nick Paul gained possession after the infraction occurred and before MacKinnon scored, but the goal stood.
COL 2, TBL 1
12:28 Artturi Lehknonen (8) - Nathan MacKinnon, Josh Manson
A Colorado 3-on-2 rush ended up in the back of the Lightning net at 12:28 of the second period. With the puck in the middle of the ice, MacKinnon tried to dish to Josh Manson on his right, but had the puck deflect off Ryan McDonagh back to Artturi Lehkonen on the left wing. Even with the puck bouncing, Lehknonen quickly fired it home to put the Bolts into a 2-1 deficit.
3rd Period
No Scoring
