Lightning bounce back, pull away from Avalanche in Game 3 of Final

TAMPA -- The Tampa Bay Lightning broke out offensively and pushed back against the Colorado Avalanche with a 6-2 victory in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final at Amalie Arena on Monday.

Steven Stamkos, Ondrej Palat and Patrick Maroon each had a goal and an assist, and Nikita Kucherov and Victor Hedman each had two assists for the Lightning, who rebounded from a 7-0 loss in Game 2 on Saturday to cut the Avalanche's lead in the best-of-7 series.
Tampa Bay has won eight straight games at home, where Game 4 will be on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, CBC, SN, TVAS).
"We knew that this was a pretty much a must-win game for us," Stamkos said. "So I thought we played like it tonight. I thought our attention to detail was a lot better and the game plan, not that it changed too much, but we executed it. So a way better effort for our group."

That included goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who made 37 saves after allowing seven goals, which tied an NHL career high, in Game 2.
"To go through what he went through two nights ago and perform like he did tonight and not only that, but to have them score first and then for the team to respond and back him up, I guess that's how you get to the places where we've been," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "So it was a pretty great effort for everybody."
Gabriel Landeskog scored two goals for the Avalanche, who lost on the road for the first time this postseason (7-1). Darcy Kuemper allowed five goals on 22 shots before being replaced in the second period by Pavel Francouz, who made 10 saves.
"They came out and they're fast and desperate, and we knew that going into it. We were going to expect them to be coming out hard here at home, kind of backs against the wall and be desperate," Landeskog said. "But I thought we did some really good things, and we've got to clean some up in our zone and make sure we're exiting our zone a little more clean than we did tonight."
After managing 16 shots in Game 2, the Lightning wanted to get to the middle of the ice in the offensive zone more and to put more shots on Kuemper. The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions did that from the start on Monday, generating 12 shots on goal and 24 shot attempts in the first period.
"We needed more shot volume and we needed more shot attempts," Maroon said. "I think when you do that and you work hard and you work hard to reload and you work hard to get on top of them, you're going to get second and third opportunities, and we did a way better job of that tonight."
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Valeri Nichushkin appeared to give Colorado the early lead at 5:00 of the first, but Cooper challenged the play for offside, and the call was reversed after a video review. However, Landeskog did put the Avalanche in front 1-0 at 8:19 when he scored on a rebound in the crease on the power play.
Anthony Cirelli tied it at 1-1 at 13:03 off a give-and-go with Maroon. Cirelli drove on Devon Toews toward the net, and as he tried to cut across the crease, he lost the puck but had it slide in under the right pad of Kuemper.
Palat gave Tampa Bay its first lead of the series at 2-1 by beating Kuemper blocker side from the slot at 14:54.
Nick Paul extended the lead to 3-1 at 1:26 of the second period following a giveaway by Josh Manson.
"There were some things I really liked from our group," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "It wasn't consistent enough. The execution and some of the turnovers, we gave up one on an easy turnover, good numbers back and we turned it over and it ended up in the back of our net. They executed quickly on our mistakes."

After Landeskog scored his second power-play goal from the top of the left circle to cut it to 3-2 at 4:43, Stamkos answered from in front to make it 4-2 at 7:52.
Maroon ended Kuemper's night by lifting a backhand over his right shoulder to push it to 5-2 at 11:15, and Corey Perry made it 6-2 when he jammed in a rebound in the crease on the power play at 14:58.
"We just wanted to come out strong and no matter what happened, stick to our plan, stick to the way we know how to play," Cirelli said. "They got that one there early and we just kept going, kept going. Then, we got those two big goals going into the second and just kept going from there. But it's only one game."
NOTES:Cooper did not give an update postgame on Kucherov, who left with 6:05 remaining in the third period after he appeared to injure his left leg on a hit by Toews, who assessed a cross-checking penalty on the play 17 seconds earlier. … Vasilevskiy became the seventh goalie in the NHL's expansion era (since 1967-68) with 10 or more wins in the Stanley Cup Final, joining Ken Dryden (24), Patrick Roy (18), Martin Brodeur (17), Billy Smith (17), Grant Fuhr (14) and Chris Osgood (11). ... Perry became the first player in NHL history to score a goal in the Stanley Cup Final with four different teams (also Anaheim Ducks, Dallas Stars and Montreal Canadiens).