2022 Stanley Cup Final - What we learned in Game 5 as the Tampa Bay Lightning extend the series to Game 6

The Stanley Cup was in the building. The fans were buzzing. The Colorado Avalanche were on the precipice of a third championship.

Then the game started, and the Tampa Bay Lightning displayed the resilience that has carried them to back-to-back Cups, and on to Game 6 in their quest for a three-peat. Their 3-2 win shocked some prognosticators, and we've got at least one more hockey game this season.

As the series returns to Tampa for the next contest (8 ET Sunday, ABC and ESPN+), here are our biggest takeaways, with an eye on what it all means for the rest of the series.

The Lightning ended Game 4 at their lowest point in the playoffs. Nazem Kadri scored in overtime to give the Avalanche a 3-2 win and a 3-1 series lead. Coach Jon Cooper noted in his news conference that the Avalanche got away with a too many men on the ice penalty on the play.

«My heart breaks for the players. Because we probably still should be playing,» he said.

The Lightning will play again in Tampa on Sunday night in Game 6, their three-peat hopes still alive, partially because Colorado lost two valuable minutes near the end of the third period, trailing by a goal, because — you guessed it — they were called for too many men on the ice.

You can't make this up.

That left the Avalanche with just 43 seconds left in regulation to try and tie the game, which they did not. The Stanley Cup remained in its case.

Perhaps the officials took extra notice after being put on notice by Cooper. — Greg Wyshynski

Colorado didn't clinch a Stanley Cup on home ice. Tampa Bay earned another chance to play on theirs.

The night felt eerily similar to Game 4. The Lightning grabbed the early lead with Jan Rutta's first goal of the postseason, and the Avs responded with a