Ondrej Palat scored the eventual game-winner goal with 6:22 remaining in the third period, as the Tampa Bay Lightning staved off elimanted with a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final at Ball Arena in Denver.
After playing catch with Mikael Sergachev, Victor Hedman found Palat wide-open in the slot and his one-timer barely made it through the pads of Darcy Kuemper and over the goal line.
Ondrej Palat just can’t stop scoring clutch goals.
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— SB Nation NHL (@SBNationNHL) June 25, 2022
Jan Ruuta notched his first of the postseason to open the scoring in the first period and Nikita Kucherov put the Lightning up 2-1 with a power-play goal at 8:10 mark of the second.
Valeri Nichuskin and Cale Makar each had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche, who could not find a way to win with the Stanley Cup in their building.
Andrei Vasilveskiy finished with 35 saves to get the victory while Kuemper stopped 26 of 29 shots for Colorado.
For more on Tampa Bay’s series-saving win visit Raw Charge and Mile High Hockey.