Avalanche vs. Lightning: What to watch for in Game 4 of 2022 Stanley Cup Final

We have a bit of a series here, don’t we? The Tampa Bay Lightning woke up at home and turned over the Colorado Avalanche 6-2 in Game 3. Now they look to even the series in Game 4 Wednesday night.

The Lightning responded quick after going down 1-0 as Anthony Cirelli and Ondrej Palat scored 1:51 apart and then Nicholas Paul netted his fifth of the playoffs early in the second period for a 3-1 lead. Four goals in the second period chased Darcy Kuemper and helped Tampa Bay avoid a 3-0 deficit. What should we expect tonight?

Let’s take a look at what to watch for ahead of Game 4 tonight from AMALIE Arena in Tampa Bay.

• Same lineup expected for Lightning: Status quo for Tampa Bay tonight, according to Jon Cooper. The Lightning head coach said he expects to ice the same lineup. That would mean Brayden Point is out and Nikita Kucherov is in after suffering an apparent lower-body injury towards the end of Game 3.

“I’m not saying they’re all fine. They’re going to play,” Cooper said. “Everybody’s banged up this time of year.”

As for Point, despite a third missed game, there’s still a chance he returns later in the series.

Said Cooper of Point: “I haven’t ruled him out for the series, but he’s out for tonight.”

• Francouz or Kuemper?: After shutting out Tampa Bay in Game 2, the Lightning hung five on Kuemper during Monday night’s defeat. That led to speculation that Jared Bednar could make a change to Pavel Francouz, who played the final 29 minutes of Game 3.

Bednar was coy after Wednesday’s morning skate saying it was a “possibility” he would stick with Kuemper.

“He’s followed up good performances with better performances, and he’s elevated his game when we’ve needed him to,” Bednar said.

Kuemper has a .922 save percentage and