DENVER — The Lightning have found their way back into the Stanley Cup Final by taking away space from the Avalanche’s top offensive players.
Early in its Game 5 win at Colorado, the way defenseman Mikhail Sergachev collapsed on star center Nathan MacKinnon in open ice set the tone for Tampa Bay.
“When I sit on the bench and somebody makes a hit like that, it gets me going,” Sergachev said. “So that’s all I can say. I hope it got our team going, but our team was playing really well before my hit. So it’s just a part of the game.”