Ondrej Palat has a habit of scoring big-time goals for the Tampa Bay Lightning and there was no bigger than his third period tally in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final.
On Friday, the Lightning were facing down elimination against the Colorado Avalanche, who held a 3-1 lead in the Stanley Cup Final headed back into their home rink. After the big blowouts and controversial endings, Game 5 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final was a more back-and-forth affair, with the Lightning holding 1-0 and 2-1 leads before the Avalanche fought back to tie the game each time.
However, tied 2-2 with under six and a half minutes remaining, Palat scored the biggest goal of his career past Darcy Kuemper to give the Lightning the lead once more.
ONDREJ "CLUTCH" PALAT! 🤯⚡️#StanleyCup | #GoBolts pic.twitter.com/1x7LFBmhxt
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 25, 2022
Palat was left wide open in front of the net by Colorado’s defense and was able to sneak that shot through Kuemper for the 3-2 game winner. Talk about taking advantage of a soft Avalanche defensive coverage and Kuemper’s inability to keep his pads on that puck.
Thanks to Palat’s clutch tally, the Lightning live to see another day as the series swings back to Tampa Bay on Sunday with the Avalanche leading 3-2. The Lightning still have to win two more games to threepeat as Stanley Cup champions, but their road got just a bit easier thanks to Palat’s heroics.
