On this day in 2022, the Avalanche won the franchise’s third Stanley Cup

It has been three years since the Colorado Avalanche capped off one of the most dominant playoff runs that the NHL has ever seen in its rich history. With a 2-1 victory on the road over the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Avalanche snatched the ‘champion’ title from the Lightning, who were looking for a three-peat after running the league in 2020 and 2021.

Throwback Thursday 🏆 pic.twitter.com/Cy50qV89la

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) June 26, 2025

There was an unsettling feeling amongst Avs fans on that Sunday night in Tampa, as they had just squandered a golden opportunity to win the Cup on home ice in a 3-2 loss. After a dominant start to the series, the momentum had suddenly shifted in the favor of the experienced Lightning in front of their rockin’ home crowd at Amalie Arena.

After the first frame, Tampa led 1-0 and had even more momentum on their side after Colorado wasn’t able to generate anything in the offensive zone for the first 20 minutes. Steven Stamkos put Tampa on the board just minutes in, making the fight for a Stanley Cup an uphill battle for the entire game on the other side.

Stamkos scores lightning quick in Game 6 ⚡️ #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/nFYBJif354

— ESPN (@espn) June 27, 2022

However, the Avalanche, who scored the fourth-most goals per game in the regular season that year, weren’t going to be held dormant for long, as Nathan MacKinnon quickly evened things up at one goal a piece not even two minutes into the second period.

Nathan MacKinnon ties the game for the Avs ‼️#StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/VkhRL8aueN

— ESPN (@espn) June 27, 2022

Just over 10 minutes later, a bouncing puck found the tape of Artturi Lehkonen’s stick on a 3-on-2 breakaway, and Lehkonen put what would be the game-winning goal in the back of the net.

Day 7 of posting our favorite @Avalanche goals leading up to the playoffs brings us to the Stanley Cup Game Winning Goal by Artturi Lehkonen.

This goal in the middle of the second period turned out to be what the @Avalanche needed to secure the Stanley Cup.#GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/kRon4O6ZgE

— Avs Daily (@Avs_Daily) April 19, 2025

While the talk surrounding that Avalanche team is always about how dominant they were, the third period showed the true grit and camaraderie of that hockey club. Those last 20 minutes were some of the ugliest, most physical, grittiest hockey any Avalanche fan has ever seen, but the guys on the ice executed Jared Bednar’s defensive gameplan perfectly to ensure that two goals was all they needed to lift Lord Stanley a mile high.

The feat capped off what had been a frustrating couple of years for Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, Erik Johnson and the rest of that core Avalanche group that had been through multiple playoff heartbreaks in the prior years. They became just the sixth team in NHL history to lose four or fewer games en route to a 16-win Stanley Cup run, and were the first team to do so since the 2012 Los Angeles Kings. The 1988 Edmonton Oilers, led by The Great One, are still the only team that has completed a run in less than 20 games.

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