2008/2009 NHL PLAYOFFS | STANLEY CUP FINALS
COLORADO AVALANCHE Vs. PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
INSIDER:
Colorado has done it again, making it to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the fifth straight season. The rivary between Detroit would continue in the Conference Finals, with yet again Colorado pulling out all the stops to defeat them for the fifth straight season to get to this point.
The Atlanta Thrashers have made history for the franchise, as they've made it past some big hitting teams to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time ever in their history in the NHL.
Thrashers will face another tall order, as the Avalanche has won the last four Stanley Cup Finals. The odds are also against them, as Colorado with that history, is the huge favorite to win this series and be crowned for the fifth straight season the Stanley Cup Champions.
INJURY LIST
ATL: Braydon Coburn | 1-2 Months
COL: None
Code:
2007/2008 STANLEY CUP | PLAYER STATS IN SERIES (TOP 5)
AWAY-TEAM: AVALANCHE HOME-TEAM: THRASHERS
Joe Sakic (GP:17,G:5,A:20)| Ilya Kovalchuk (GP:18,G:6,A:18)
Zigmund Palffy (GP:17,G:10,A:9)| Dany Heatley (GP:18,G:12,A:10)
Brent Burns (GP:17,G:7,A:10)| Marc Savard (GP:18,G:6,A:11)
Nicklas Backstrom (GP:17,G:6,A:10)| Cory Murphy (GP:18,G:2,A:12)
Peter Forsberg (GP:17,G:5,A:9) | Cal Clutterbuck (GP:18,G:5,A:7)
GOALIES ON DECK
ATL: Kari Lehtonen (GP:17, 10-3-3 | GAA: 2.68, SV%: .914)
Ilya Bryzgalov (GP:2, 2-0-0 | GAA: 2.09, SV%: .948)
COL: David Aebischer (GP:16, 11-4-1 | GAA: 2.30, SV%: .895)
Erik Ersberg (GP:2, 1-0-0 | GAA: 2.07, SV%: .889)
GAME ONE:
Game One of the Stanley Cup Finals begins in Atlanta, as these fans are electric with their first chance at becoming Champions. They'd see a strong first half from their team, but 9:49, the defending Champions would hit the scoreboard first, as Joe Sakic would get a nice feed from Peter Forsberg to score on the power play to open up the series scoring 1-0. The one goal would be all the first would see as the Avalanche would take the lead into the start of the second.
The home town fans keeping the life going seemed to get their team goind, as 7:15 Dany Heatley would give his team their first goal ever in the Stanley Cup finals to bring the score to a tie at 1 off the power play. The score would stay tied up until the 16:18 mark of the second, as Tuomo Ruutu would give Atlanta the lead. That would hold up til the end of the period, as the Atlanta Thrashers would lead 2-1 going into the final period.
The Avalanche know about timing as they've proved so in the past, as they wouldn't waste much time tying things up as Nicklas Backstrom would rifle one into the net to make it 2-2. A minute later, Peter Forsberg would be sprung to score Short-Handed to give the Colorado Avalanche a 3-2 Lead.
The score would stand, as the Colorado Avalanche would take game one of the series on the road.
Colorado Avalanche Leads Series 1-0
GAME TWO:
This games big for Atlanta, as they do not want to go back to Colorado down 2 games to 0. They'd make the first hit on the score board, but would take some time, as Zach Bogosian would give the Thrashers a 1-0 lead at the 12:31 mark. The Avalanche would respond quickly as Patrick Eaves would snipe one home to bring it to 1-1. The score would hold up heading into the second.
The second period would continue on and we would stay tied up until 19:14 of the second when Atlanta would take the lead into the third thanks to Tuomo Ruutu.
Atlanta did all they could, but Colorado would tie this one up late at 16:30 by Zach Parise on the power play. The tie would hold up and we would be seeing the first over time battle in this series early.
As all Colorado over times, the period did not take long, as 2:56 Nicklas Backstrom would score on the power play and give his team a 2-0 sweep on the road. The thing Atlanta was not looking to have happen has, and they'll need to at the very least win 1/2 of the road games to bring it back home.
Colorado Avalanche Leads Series 2-0
GAME THREE:
Colorado did the hard work on the road, now look to finish cleanly at home, as the Thrashers look to survive.
The home fans got to their feet early, as Joe Sakic would score on the power play to give the Avalanche a quick 3:11 lead. The score would hold up, til Cal Clutterbuck would slap one into the net to tie this game up at 14:03. The score would hold up, and we would have a 1-1 tie to kick off the second period of this game three Stanley Cup series.
The second period was not friendly towards Atlanta, as Paul Stastny would snipe one in, to give the Avalanche the lead again. The lead would be extended at 7:38 as Nicklas Backstrom would get a nice dish from Peter Forsberg to give the Avalanche a 3-1 lead nearing the half way mark of the second period. Nicklas Backstrom wouldn't stop there, as at 13:38 he would record his second of the game and last goal of the period to give the defending Champions a commanding 4-1 lead entering the third.
The third would only see one last goal of the game, coming on on the power play, Joe Sakic would record his second and secure the dominating win of game three with a 5-1 win and one game away from hoisting the cup for the fifth straight time.
Colorado Avalanche Lead Series 3-0
GAME FOUR:
Atlanta's facing elimination early in this series and on the road. Colorado could sweep this series and win their second cup on home ice, and fifth straight cup. The first period would take some time to see a goal, but at 13:56 Claude Lemieux would open of the scoring and giving the Avalanche fans something to cheer for as they lead 1-0. It took just under 3 mins, but Colorado would extend the lead to 2-0 when Nicklas Backstrom sneaks one past Kari Lehtonen. The period would hold up as so, as Avalanche look to be two periods from making another cup celebration.
The Thrashers took a play out of the Avalanche's book, as only 1:01 into the period, Tuomo Ruutu would score one to get his team on the board and within one. The score would stick to 2-1, up until 11:18 when Cody McCormick would tie this game up at 2-2 to bring life back to the Thrashers. The Avalanche would strike back as Claude Lemieux would score his second goal of the night to give the defending champs the lead again. The score would see it tied again, when Cody McCormick would cash in his second of the night to tie this game, which would hold up to the end of the period.
3-3 begins the period. Still anyones game, til 2:54 of the period when Brent Burns would slap one home on the power play to give Colorado the lead once again 4-3. Thrashers strike back quickly, as Dany Heatley will score on the power play to bring this game back to a tie at 4-4.
The Avalanche would yet again take the lead 2 mins later, from a huge shot from Adam Foote to make it 5-4. The scoring would be silent up until 16:09 when Wojtek Wolski would rifle one into the net from Zigmund Palffy to give the defending champions a 6-4 lead. The nail in the coffin would come 41 seconds after the sixth goal, as Patrick Eaves records one, to give the Colorado Avalanche a commanding 7-4 lead.
That would be the final score, as the Colorado Avalanche sweep and win the Stanley Cup for the fifth straight season!
COLORADO AVALANCHE - 2008/2009 STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS
