The Colorado Avalanche are now one game away from winning the Stanley Cup after a 3-2 overtime win on the road against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Wednesday's Game 4.
Tampa Bay were riding high after working their way back into the series with a dominant 6-2 showing in Game 3, but they now trail 3-1 in the series in their quest for three consecutive championships, with Game 5 headed back to Denver.
The Lightning were in control early as Anthony Cirelli scored the opening period's only goal, just 36 seconds into the action, dominating the opening period to force Avalanche goaltender Darcy Kuemper into 16 first-period saves. The visitors could only muster four shots on goal in comparison.
The Avalanche fought back into the contest in the second period, restoring parity thanks to Nathan MacKinnon's power-play goal, before Victor Hedman put the Lightning back in front heading into the third.
An early goal from Colorado's Andrew Cogliano put things even again at 2-2, which would hold through regulation and eight minutes of overtime until Nazem Kadri was slipped through by Artturi Lehkonen.
Kadri's shot deflected off Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy's stick and nestled into the top of the net in a hard-to-view position, with the Colorado bench eventually exploding into celebrations once they realised it was in the goal.
After the game, Kadri was asked if he knew he had scored with his winning shot.
"Not really," he admitted. "I just tried to make a little move there and go far-side, and I'm assuming that's where it went.
"I don't know if it found a hole, but it was a bit of a delayed reaction. I thought he made the save for a second, and the next thing you know people are sprinting towards me – it's a good feeling."
Playing in his first career Stanley Cup Final game in his return from thumb surgery, Kadri said he was determined to make it count.
"I've been waiting for this my whole life, so I figured I'd stop waiting and just try to join the party," he said.
"I'm just grateful I'm able to be in this position, and with this group of guys – you couldn't have written a better story.
"[Closing out the series] is going to be tough – the last one is the hardest one to win, everybody will tell you that.
"They're a great team over there, so we're expecting a good effort from them."
Avalanche star MacKinnon was complimentary of the efforts of Vasilevskiy – who denied a number of great chances in overtime before eventually conceding – but said he feels the right team won.
"[Vasilevskiy] was awesome – but it just felt like a matter of time, we really tilted the ice," he said.
"It just felt like we deserved it, we really outplayed them in overtime. We had a shaky first period, but other than that we were very solid.
"Obviously thrilled with the win, but short memory, we've got to move on and get ready for Friday night."
Acknowledging the extra fanfare that comes with a potential close-out game at home, MacKinnon said the key would be to not get caught up in the commotion.
"It starts with blocking out all the 'BS' that comes along with it," he said.
"Obviously we've got family and friends in town, we know what's going to be in the building, but have to stick to what's got us to this point.
"That's our great process – we put that before anything and we feel like the result will get done.
"Nothing changes, we have to stick to our game plan that we've been doing all season. I know it's cliche, but it's true.
"We're feeling good, we're going to be coming in attacking and aggressive, and hopefully get that win."
Bednar calls for another level from Avalanche after latest loss to playoff contenders
The Colorado Avalanche failed another test against an NHL playoff contender, losing 5-2 to the Los Angeles Kings to leave head coach Jared Bednar frustrated.
The Kings recorded their fifth straight win, improving their record to 38-20-8 to sit second in the Pacific Division.
But the Avs are third in the Central Division with a 35-21-6 record, having lost four of their past five games, all against sides in the playoffs contention.
"There's another level of determination and passion that we can play with, if we want to win against the good teams," Bednar told reporters.
"It's deflating, because you feel like you're right there and you know they're a difficult team to score against."
Adrian Kempe opened the scoring in the first period and Gabriel Vilardi doubled their advantage at 17:10.
Evan Rodrigues halved the deficit, deflecting in Samuel Girard's point shot at 14:59 of the second period. But Kempe restored the Kings' two-goal lead early in the third.
Nathan MacKinnon made it 3-2 with a snap shot at 4:24 on the power play, only for Phillip Danault to score twice to seal victory for the Kings, the latter into an empty net.
Avs defenseman Cale Makar reiterated Bednar's sentiment, with Colorado's postseason hopes getting tight.
"We should have approached this like a playoff game tonight," Makar said. "Felt like we knew the type of team they are.
"We know that they're so systematically sound that it tends to frustrate teams when they sit back and don't allow you to get in their zone."
Fleury 'won the game for us' says Wild coach after extending points streak to 11 games
Minnesota Wild head coach Dean Evason hailed goal-tender Marc-Andre Fleury as they extended their points streak to 11 games with a 4-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday.
The Wild improved their recent run to 9-0-2, despite losing in an over-time shoot-out to the Calgary Flames on Tuesday, to continue their postseason push.
Marcus Foligno grabbed a goal and an assist, while Frederick Gaudreau, Ryan Hartman and Mason Shaw also scored, but Fleury made 46 saves and earned praise from Evason.
"Our goal-tender won the hockey game for us," Evason told reporters.
"It was obvious what happened against Calgary, [Flames goal-tender] Markstrom won it probably for them. Goal-tenders come up big and Fleury was huge for us tonight."
The Wild may have boosted their playoffs case but they were left with an injury worry with top scorer Kiriil Kaprizov hitting the ice hard and exiting the game in the third period.
"I've not been in the rooms, so I don’t know yet," Evason said about Kaprizov's status. "He was able to skate off, so if there's a positive, that was one of them."
Evason hailed center Oskar Sundqvist who provided two assists, having only joined the Wild in a trade from the Detroit Red Wings last week.
"We liked Sundqvist's game tonight," Evason said. "His stick was real good. He made a couple of nice passes last night, we just didn’t convert.
"He's got a skill set that combined with his size and ability to get up the ice and finish checks, hopefully he can continue to generate offensive opportunities for us."
Quick return to Pacific Division as Kings great signs with VGK
Jonathan Quick was reported to be unhappy with the trade that took him away from the Los Angeles Kings this week, but he was soon back at the top of the Pacific Division.
Goaltender Quick was included in a trade deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets as the Kings moved for Joonas Korpisalo.
A two-time Stanley Cup champion in LA, Quick paid the price for a difficult season but was said to have remained in the city amid frustration at his departure.
Rather than heading to Columbus, he will instead make the shorter trip to Las Vegas after the Golden Knights agreed their own trade with the Blue Jackets.
Starting Golden Knights netminder Logan Thompson is out injured, potentially presenting the opportunity for Quick to come straight into the team.
The veteran's new Golden Knights team-mates are tied with the Kings at the top of the division.
Vegas will play the Kings once more this season, on April 6.
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