Andre Burakovsky is the undisputed hero of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final for the Colorado Avalanche.
The 2022 Stanley Cup Final kicked off on Wednesday to extreme fanfare, with the back-to-back champions in the Tampa Bay Lightning taking on the high-flying Avalanche. Game 1 was an incredible showcase of the talent these two teams possess, with the Avalanche taking leads of 2-0 and 3-1 and the Lightning eventually battling back to force the game into overtime at 3-3.
It was, however, a real quick overtime, as Burakovsky scored the game-winner just a minute and 23 seconds into the extra frame after yet another costly turnover burned the Lightning.
Burakovsky wins it in OT when the Lightning can't clear the zone pic.twitter.com/89R30qqeQU
— CJ Fogler AKA Perc70 #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) June 16, 2022
What a set up by Valeri Nichushkin with that sick cross-ice pass that had Andrei Vasilevskiy well out of position to make the save on Burakovsky’s quick shot. And what a goal too!
Thanks to Burakovsky’s second goal of these playoffs, the Avalanche now hold a 1-0 lead in the series with Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final set for Saturday.
