Avalanche vs. Lightning: What to watch for in Game 5 of 2022 Stanley Cup Final

Will the 2021-22 NHL season come to an end tonight? The Colorado Avalanche hold a 3-1 series lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning thanks to Nazem Kadri‘s overtime winner Wednesday night. Colorado is looking to win its third Stanley Cup in franchise history and first since 2001 when they beat the New Jersey Devils in seven games.

The Lightning haven’t faced elimination a ton since the sweep-that-launched-a-monster series in 2019 against the Columbus Blue Jackets. But they have Andrei Vasilevskiy, and as we saw after the first two games of this series, they won’t go down without a fight.

“There is no more tomorrows now. This is it,” said Lightning head coach Jon Cooper on Friday. “There’s no more mulligans. We’ve got to pull this one out.”

Let’s take a look at what to watch for ahead of Game 5 tonight from Ball Arena in Denver.

• Avalanche managing emotions: Friday night could be a memorable one for the Avalanche players and organization. Winning a Stanley cup at home is a special experience, but while they hold a 3-1 series lead they cannot start thinking about celebrating — not with the two-time defending champions still in the fight.

“It’s a big opportunity for us. It’s an exciting game, an exciting moment,” said Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar. “You always hear about controlled emotion. I want us to use our nervous energy and emotion and play with passion and play hard and stay on our toes.”

• Moving past the “too many men” controversy: The Lightning are facing a tall task: beating the Avalanche in three straight games. Colorado has not dropped three in a row, or consecutive games, for that matter, since a slide to close out the regular season when they lost six out of their final eight. The way Game 4 ended, whether