Tampa Bay Lightning (51-23-8, third in the Atlantic Division) vs. Colorado Avalanche (56-19-7, first in the Central Division)
Denver; Friday, 8 p.m. EDT
STANLEY CUP FINAL: Avalanche lead series 3-1
BOTTOM LINE: The Colorado Avalanche host the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup Final with a 3-1 lead in the series. The teams meet Wednesday for the sixth time this season. The Avalanche won the last matchup 3-2 in overtime.
Colorado has a 56-19-7 record overall and a 38-6-5 record in home games. The Avalanche lead NHL play with 67 power-play goals.
Tampa Bay is 51-23-8 overall and 29-19-3 in road games. The Lightning rank second in NHL play serving 11.0 penalty minutes per game.
TOP PERFORMERS: Gabriel Landeskog has scored 30 goals with 29 assists for the Avalanche. Nathan MacKinnon has seven goals and five assists over the past 10 games.
Nikita Kucherov has 25 goals and 44 assists for the Lightning. Ondrej Palat has six goals and five assists over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Avalanche: 8-1-1, averaging 4.5 goals, 7.3 assists, 4.6 penalties and 10.3 penalty minutes while giving up 3.1 goals per game.
Lightning: 5-3-2, averaging 2.7 goals, 4.4 assists, 5.4 penalties and 12.7 penalty minutes while giving up three goals per game.
INJURIES: Avalanche: Andre Burakovsky: day to day (undisclosed), Ryan Murray: out (hand/wrist), Samuel Girard: out for season (sternum).
Lightning: Brayden Point: day to day (undisclosed).
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
