Avalanche, Lightning to face off in 2022 Stanley Cup Final

The 2022 Stanley Cup Final is set and it will be the Colorado Avalanche against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

This will be the Avalanche’s first appearance in the Cup Final since they won it all in 2001 in seven games over the New Jersey Devils for the second title in franchise history. The Lightning, on the other hand, are looking to win for the third consecutive season and fourth time in franchise history.

It’s been a pretty easy road for the Avalanche in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs with two sweeps on their way to the Cup Final. They opened the postseason by dispatching the Nashville Predators in four games, then moved on to top the St. Louis Blues in six. In the Western Conference Final they swept the Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the Edmonton Oilers to reach their third Cup Final.

The Lightning faced three series deficits in the First Round, but eventually dispatched the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games. In the Second Round it was a rematch of last season with the Florida Panthers, the NHL’s 2021-22 Presidents’ Trophy winners. That series ended in six days with Tampa Bay finishing off a four-game sweep of their intrastate rivals. They would drop the opening two games of the Eastern Conference Final against the New York Rangers before reeling off four straight to punch their ticket to another Cup Final.

Should the Lightning win a third Cup in a row, they would become the first NHL team to do so since the 1980-83 New York Islanders. There have been five three-peat attempts since that Islanders dynasty, all of which have failed:

• 1985-86 Edmonton Oilers lost in seven games to the Calgary Flames in the Pacific Division Final in seven games.

• 1988-89 Oilers lost in seven games to the Los Angeles Kings in the Pacific