The 2022 Stanley Cup Final was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2021–22 season and the culmination of the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs. The series was between the Eastern Conference and two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning and the Western Conference champion Colorado Avalanche. The Avalanche defeated the Lightning four games to two in the best-of-seven series, earning their third Stanley Cup championship in franchise history and first since 2001. Colorado had home-ice advantage with the better regular-season record.
The series began on June 15, and concluded on June 26. With the Government of Canada allowing cross-border travel for fully vaccinated players and team personnel between Canada and the United States, the league was able to return to its usual two conference alignment and reinstate its standard playoff format that was used from 2014–2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. The Final series were still pushed from the usual start date in late May/early June for the third consecutive year, this time due to a scheduled break in the regular season that coincided with the league's planned participation in the 2022 Winter Olympics, though the league's players ultimately did not participate in the Olympics. When NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman tested positive for COVID-19, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly took over the presentation of the Conn Smythe Trophy and the Stanley Cup. This was the first time since 1992 that Gary Bettman did not give the presentation.
Paths to the Final
Tampa Bay Lightning
This was Tampa Bay's third consecutive Final appearance and fifth overall. They won the prior two Stanley Cups (2020, 2021) and have won three in franchise history. They were the first team to clinch three consecutive Final appearances since the Edmonton Oilers between 1983 and 1985. The Lightning joined the Montreal Canadiens (1976–1980) and New York Islanders (1980–1984) for becoming the only teams in league history to post at least eleven consecutive playoff series victories.
Captain Steven Stamkos led the team in scoring with 106 points during the regular season. Defenceman Victor Hedman scored 85 points, eclipsing the previous Tampa Bay record for defencemen, which Hedman set in 2017. During the off-season, the Lightning signed goaltender Brian Elliott, defenceman Zach Bogosian, and forwards Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Corey Perry via free agency. They also opted to re-sign forwards Brayden Point and Ross Colton and defenceman Cal Foote with Patrick Maroon re-signing during the season. At the trade deadline, the Lightning acquired forwards Brandon Hagel and Nick Paul. For Corey Perry, this was his third straight Final appearance with three different teams (Dallas Stars in 2020, Montreal Canadiens in 2021), the first player to accomplish this feat since Marian Hossa did it with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2008, Detroit Red Wings in 2009, and Chicago Blackhawks in 2010.
The Lightning finished third in the Atlantic Division gaining 110 points with a record. Tampa Bay defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round in seven games, followed by a four-game sweep of their intrastate rival, the Presidents' Trophy-winning Florida Panthers, during the second round, and then triumphed over the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference final in six games.
Colorado Avalanche
This was Colorado's third appearance in the Final. They won their two prior appearances with their most recent against the New Jersey Devils in 2001.
Mikko Rantanen led the team in points, scoring 92 overall. Goaltender Darcy Kuemper started 57 times for the Avalanche, obtaining 37 wins in the process. However, during Game 1 of their Conference Final series, Kuemper left the game with an upper-body injury. Backup goaltender Pavel Francouz finished the opening game after replacing Kuemper and started the remaining games of the series as a result. During the off-season, the Avalanche traded for Kuemper and defenceman Kurtis MacDermid. They also picked up free agent Darren Helm. They re-signed defenceman Cale Makar, captain Gabriel Landeskog, and Francouz. Nearing the trade deadline, the Avalanche acquired Josh Manson, Nico Sturm, Artturi Lehkonen, and Andrew Cogliano.
The Avalanche finished the season with 119 points via a record, grabbing the Central Division title and first place in the Western Conference. Colorado swept the Nashville Predators in four games during the first round, then defeated the St. Louis Blues in six games during the second round, before sweeping the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference final.
Game summaries Note: The numbers in parentheses represent each player's total goals or assists to that point of the entire playoffs.
Game one
In game one, the Avalanche controlled the first period scoring three times compared to the Lightning's one goal. Colorado's captain Gabriel Landeskog began the scoring, pushing the puck past Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy when Mikko Rantanen's shot barely squeaked under the goaltender's pads. The next goal came when defenceman Victor Hedman's clearing attempt got picked by Nathan MacKinnon, whose pass to Valeri Nichushkin made it 2–0. The Lightning halved Colorado's lead when Brayden Point's dump-in was retrieved by Nick Paul who broke in and dangled out Avalanche goaltender Darcy Kuemper to make 2–1. The Avalanche regained the two-goal lead five minutes later when Tampa was in a 5-on-3 penalty kill. MacKinnon's shot got blocked and on the rebound he passed back to Landeskog who set up Rantanen for a wrist shot that got tipped in by Artturi Lehkonen. In the second period, the Lightning got two goals to tie the game. Ondrej Palat scored the first goal as he and Nikita Kucherov entered the zone with the latter going inside-out on Devon Toews to set up Palat for the tip-in. 48 seconds later, the Lightning continuing their offensive zone attack had a pass back to Mikhail Sergachev from Brandon Hagel whose shot through traffic went off the post and into the net. The third period did not have any scoring albeit the Avalanche firing 12 shots compared to the Lightning's 5 shots, thus the game went into overtime. In overtime, as the Lightning attempted to clear the zone, J. T. Compher picked up the loose puck and shot it, but it was blocked by a Lightning defenceman. The puck then came to Nichushkin who passed to Andre Burakovsky and he fired a snap shot past Vasilevskiy to give Colorado a 4–3 victory.
Scoring summaryPeriodTeamGoalAssist(s)TimeScore1st COL Gabriel Landeskog (9) Mikko Rantanen (13), Bowen Byram (8) 07:47 1–0 COL COL Valeri Nichushkin (6) Nathan MacKinnon (8) 09:23 2–0 COL TBL Nick Paul (4) Victor Hedman (13), Brayden Point (3) 12:26 2–1 COL COL Artturi Lehkonen (7) – pp Mikko Rantanen (14), Gabriel Landeskog (10) 17:31 3–1 COL2nd TBL Ondrej Palat (9) Nikita Kucherov (17), Ryan McDonagh (4) 12:51 3–2 COL TBL Mikhail Sergachev (2) Brandon Hagel (4), Anthony Cirelli (5) 13:39 3–33rd NoneOT COL Andre Burakovsky (2) Valeri Nichushkin (5), J. T. Compher (3) 01:23 4–3 COLPenalty summaryPeriodTeamPlayerPenaltyTimePIM1st COL Josh Manson Holding the stick 05:07 2:00 TBL Mikhail Sergachev Tripping 15:53 2:00 TBL Anthony Cirelli Tripping 16:20 2:002nd TBL Patrick Maroon Roughing 03:41 2:00 COL Jack Johnson Roughing 03:41 2:00 COL Bench (served by Alex Newhook) Too many men on the ice 06:28 2:003rd COL Logan O'Connor Tripping 05:48 2:00 TBL Patrick Maroon Delay of game (puck over glass) 18:36 2:00OTNone Shots by periodTeam123OTTotal 8 9 5 1 23 15 10 12 1 38
Game two
The Avalanche routed the Lightning in game two. In the first period, after Lightning defenceman Ryan McDonagh got penalized for roughing J. T. Compher, a power-play ensued for Colorado. During it, Andre Burakovsky led a cross-ice pass to Valeri Nichushkin's tip-in goal to give the Avalanche an early 1–0 lead. The Avalanche then grabbed a 2–0 lead when a 2-on-1 rush with Andrew Cogliano and Josh Manson led to the latter's wrist shot under Andrei Vasilevskiy's blocker. Burakovsky then made it 3–0 when the Avalanche on an offensive zone rush had Mikko Rantanen's shot rebound to Burakovsky for the quick tip-in. Burakovsky almost made it 4–0 when he was given a breakaway thanks to Rantanen's lead pass. In the second period, the Avalanche continued their offensive zone coverage allowing Rantanen to centre a pass to Nichushkin to make it 4–0. The Avalanche then made it 5–0 when the Lightning misplayed a pass leading Darren Helm and Logan O'Connor on a 2-on-1 break for which the former's wrist shot went over Vasilevskiy's glove. O'Connor was also given a breakaway chance to make it 6–0, but the Lightning goaltender stopped that. In the third period, as Rantanen was in the penalty box for tripping, the Lightning gave the puck away to Cale Makar who, with Andrew Cogliano on another 2-on-1, made it 6–0. Ondrej Palat then got called for cross checking and on the ensuing power-play, Nathan MacKinnon made a pass to Rantanen, who quickly passed to Makar for his second goal of the evening to make 7–0. With frustrations boiling over for Tampa Bay, four of their players were called for roughing for which Colorado retaliated with their own roughing calls. However, the Avalanche claimed a 7–0 victory with Darcy Kuemper stopping the 16 shots he faced to record his first shutout of the postseason.
Scoring summaryPeriodTeamGoalAssist(s)TimeScore1st COL Valeri Nichushkin (7) – pp Andre Burakovsky (5), Alex Newhook (3) 02:54 1–0 COL COL Josh Manson (3) Andrew Cogliano (2), Alex Newhook (4) 07:55 2–0 COL COL Andre Burakovsky (3) Mikko Rantanen (15), Devon Toews (9) 13:52 3–0 COL2nd COL Valeri Nichushkin (8) Mikko Rantanen (16) 04:51 4–0 COL COL Darren Helm (2) Logan O'Connor (3) 16:26 5–0 COL3rd COL Cale Makar (6) – sh Andrew Cogliano (3) 02:04 6–0 COL COL Cale Makar (7) – pp Mikko Rantanen (17), Nathan MacKinnon (9) 09:49 7–0 COLPenalty summaryPeriodTeamPlayerPenaltyTimePIM1st TBL Ryan McDonagh Roughing 01:01 2:00 TBL Mikhail Sergachev Delay of game (puck over glass) 08:34 2:00 TBL Corey Perry Roughing 16:12 2:00 COL Darcy Kuemper (served by Alex Newhook) Holding the stick 16:12 2:002nd COL Jack Johnson Hooking 05:35 2:00 TBL Corey Perry (served by Patrick Maroon) Roughing 17:42 2:00 TBL Corey Perry Unsportsmanlike conduct 17:42 2:00 COL J. T. Compher Hooking 17:42 2:003rd COL Mikko Rantanen Tripping 01:04 2:00 TBL Ondrej Palat Cross-checking 08:19 2:00 COL Valeri Nichushkin Roughing – double minor 15:38 4:00 COL Artturi Lehkonen Roughing – double minor 15:38 4:00 COL Darren Helm Roughing – double minor 15:38 4:00 TBL Anthony Cirelli Roughing – double minor 15:38 4:00 TBL Steven Stamkos Roughing – double minor 15:38 4:00 TBL Erik Cernak Roughing – double minor 15:38 4:00 TBL Alex Killorn Roughing – double minor 15:38 4:00 COL Jack Johnson (served by Alex Newhook) Unsportsmanlike conduct 15:38 2:00 COL Jack Johnson Roughing – double minor 15:38 4:00 Shots by periodTeam123Total 5 7 4 16 11 12 7 30
Game three