

It’ll be real difficult for Kuemper to be the best goaltender in the series, but he needs to be better than the.
#Avs audio editor series
The Avalanche will win the series if… Darcy Kuemper does not become a liability.

It’ll also be about slowing down the fast Avalanche, which will require physicality - something Tampa Bay has delivered in the playoffs while averaging 36 hits per game.

When they finally began to shut that down in Game 3, the series changed in their favor. Tampa Bay was exposed in Games 1 and 2 against the Rangers by allowing too many cross-crease passes leading to high-danger chances. The Lightning will win the series if… they can successfully keep Colorado’s chances to the perimeter. The Avalanche will win the series if… they’re able to dictate the pace, and take advantage of younger legs. they totally lock down the pace of this series, and make it about goaltending. Add in solid veterans like Josh Manson and Erik Johnson and this defense is as good as you will find in the NHL, even without Samuel Girard. Cale Makar is a superstar, Devon Toews is a top-pairing defender, and Bowen Byram is on his way to being a star. The Lightning have the better goalie, both teams have superstar forwards, but Colorado’s defense from top to bottom is better than the Lightning’s. The Avalanche will win the series if… they get adequate goaltending and their defense shuts down Tampa Bay’s top line. That could be with a Brayden Point return, or Alex Killorn and/or Anthony Cirelli breaking out of their goal scoring slumps, or Brandon Hagel showing he was worth the price Tampa Bay paid at the trade deadline to acquire him from the Chicago Blackhawks. The Lightning will win the series if… Andrei Vasilevskiy keeps playing like an all-time great and if somebody after the Nikita Kucherov-Steven Stamkos-Ondrej Palat line picks up some slack offensively.
