Looking like by far the better team against the defending champions, the Colorado Avalanche overwhelmed the Tampa Bay Lightning 7-0 in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.Valeri Nichushkin scored his seventh and eighth goals of the playoffs and continued to be the best player on the ice in the final, Game 1 overtime hero Andre Burakovsky beat Andrei Vasilevskiy again and even defensive defenseman Josh Manson and 35-year-old grinder Darren Helm got in on the fun with a goal apiece. Playoff MVP front-runner Cale Makar scored twice in the third period, inciting chants of "We want the Cup!” from a fired up crowd.Rarely have the Lightning been completely outclassed during this run of postseason success, but they also hadn't faced an opponent like the Avalanche, who forced them into one uncharacteristic mistake after another. Colorado was dominant in every facet of the game to move two victories away from the franchise's first title since 2001 and the first by this core led by Nathan MacKinnon.The Avalanche go to Tampa for Game 3 on Monday night up in the series despite no goals in the series from MacKinnon. They still became just the third team in NHL history to score three-plus goals in the first period of Games 1 and 2 in the final.The dominant performance started by pouncing on an early mistake by typically reliable Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak when he bobbled the puck at the blue line on one of the game's first shifts. It was all Avalanche after that.Their aggressive forecheck led them to draw a penalty on veteran Ryan McDonagh, score on the ensuing power play when Burakovsky fed Nichushkin for his first of the night. It wasn't his last, and Colorado poured it on with six of the game's first seven shots and complete territorial domination with much of the game played in the Tampa Bay end.With Vasilevskiy — whose play was the key to the Lightning's incredible ability to bounce back after a loss in the playoffs — looking shaky and even dropping his head after letting Makar beat him clean on one of many 2-on-1 rushes, the Avalanche made the most of all their offensive zone time. The highest-scoring team this postseason put on a clinic against the team that has played more hockey than anyone else over the past two years.That may finally be taking its toll, and it's exacerbated by the blazing speed with which the Avalanche play. They again not only outskated the Lightning but used quick feet to force errors that turned into goals.Tampa Bay fell to 18-2 after a loss since the start of the first round in 2020. The streak of 18 in a row ended in the Eastern Conference final against the New York Rangers when the Lightning fell behind 2-0 before roaring back, though it's hard to see seasoned Colorado fall into the same trap.Even if players brush off the concept of momentum from game to game during a playoff series, their romp over the champs combined with a 7-0 road record should fill the Avalanche with confidence. But they might again need to dip into their pool of depth because of injuries.After getting Andrew Cogliano back from missing the season opener with a right finger injury, the Avalanche lost Burakovsky again in the second period. Burakovsky blocked a shot in the first game in the West final and has been playing through pain since.Colorado is inflicting plenty of pain on Tampa Bay, which resorted to some rough stuff after falling behind. Of course, even MacKinnon was throwing hits in the third period despite the game being out of hand.Darcy Kuemper was barely tested in net for Colorado, picking up the shutout with 17 saves.

The Golden Knights delivered their city a true Vegas-style party from dazzling passes to Mark Stone's hat trick to all-out goal celebrations, capturing the young organization's first Stanley Cup with a 9-3 romp over the beaten-up and exhausted Florida Panthers on Tuesday night.Coach Bruce Cassidy, in a nod to the Knights' brief history, started five of the original Vegas players known as the Misfits and put the sixth on the second shift. Cassidy sounded confident the day before the game that his team would play well, and it certainly did, blowing open a one-goal game in the second period to lead 6-1. The nine goals tied the record for the most in a Cup Final.“Vegas, you certainly know how to throw a party," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman told the crowd. "What’s going on inside this arena and outside is incredible and a testament to what a great hockey market this is.“What has happened here has been simply incredible. Not only is Vegas a hockey town, it’s a championship town.”Vegas closed out the series in five games to win the cup before a delirious franchise-record crowd of 19,058 at T-Mobile Arena that drowned out the pregame introductions of forward Jonathan Marchessault and goalie Adin Hill and cheered all the way through the final buzzer.Marchessault, who ended the postseason with a 10-game points streak, received the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP.“I couldn’t be more proud of our team, our organization," Marchessault said. "Everybody stepped up at different times and that’s why we’re winners.”Stone's hat trick — with the third into an empty net with 5:54 left — was the first in a Stanley Cup Final since Colorado's Peter Forsberg in 1996, also against the Panthers.The Knights got the rest of their scoring from Nic Hague, Alec Martinez, Reilly Smith, Michael Amadio, Ivan Barbashev and Nicolas Roy. Martinez's goal in the second period came nine years to the day after he delivered the double-overtime goal in Game 5 to give the Los Angeles Kings' the cup.Hill came through with another strong performance that has quickly made him a Knights fan favorite, even earning “MVP! MVP!” chants in the third period. Jack Eichel, the eight-year pro playing in his first postseason, had three assists.“This is what everyone dreams of," Eichel said. "You come to an organization like this and the expectation is to win this thing. It’s a special place to play. I can’t give everyone enough credit for putting us in this position.“They call ’em the misfits, those are the guys, they built this. They built this culture. So proud to be a part of it.”As captain, Stone was the first to lift the cup before handing it over to the six Misfits to each get their turn skating with the trophy before handing it down the line to the rest of the team. “Unbelievable,” Stone said. “The look in my teammates eyes when I got it, one of the craziest feelings I’ve ever had. I can’t even describe the feelings in my stomach right now. It’s everything you can imagine. The grind of an 82-game season, four playoff rounds. You grind and you grind and you grind.”Aaron Ekblad, Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett scored for Florida, and Sergei Bobrovsky was overwhelmed in another tough performance against Vegas after carrying Florida to the final. Missing from the lineup was Matthew Tkachuk, the king of game-winning shots during the playoffs but never the same after crushing blow to his shoulder by Vegas' Keegan Kolesar in Game 3.The Knights have set the standard of what an expansion franchise should look like, making the Cup Final in their first season and the playoffs in every year but one. Six players remain from the initial 2017-18 team that lost in five games to the Washington Capitals in the final.Those players watched the Capitals skate with the Stanley Cup that night, and then they got the chance to do the same Tuesday to fulfill owner Bill Foley’s quest to win the championship in the sixth year.“We waited a long time for that moment to come back.” Marchessault said. “We wanted to make sure we cash in this time."By creating such a lofty standard at the outset, the Knights played with high expectations, but repeatedly fell short despite four runs to at least the NHL semifinals – until Game 5 against the Panthers.This is Las Vegas’ second pro title in nine months – the Aces claimed the WNBA championship in September – and continues the stunning growth of a sports market that was limited largely to prize fights, UNLV athletics, NASCAR and lots of golf before the Golden Knights took the city by storm. The Raiders began playing here in 2020, the Oakland Athletics appear headed to the desert, Las Vegas will host a Formula One race this year and the Super Bowl will be at Allegiant Stadium in February.As for the Knights, their connection to Las Vegas was sealed ever since the shooting Oct. 1, 2017 that took 60 lives. They played an integral role in helping the city heal, reaching out to the community off the ice and winning big on it.Beating Florida justified the many moves Knights management made to remake the roster over the years. Stone, Eichel and Alex Pietrangelo are the most notable players Vegas has acquired to get to this moment.And Cassidy, hired a week after getting fired by the Boston Bruins last year, proved to be the coach to get them there.“He came in, brought an intensity to our locker room that maybe we needed,” Stone said. “He wanted to win as badly as anybody else in that locker room.”Cassidy seemingly pushing all the right buttons in helping Vegas become the Western Conference’s top seed and then the NHL’s champion.“It’s a great story — very, very grateful to get another opportunity," Cassidy said. "I’m just here to do my job and it worked out well.”The Knights also won with an unlikely goalie in Hill, who was injured when the playoffs began. Laurent Brossoit was the starter until going out with an injury in Game 3 of the second-round series against the Edmonton Oilers, and then Hill got his chance.“You dream about it every day growing up as a child.” Hill said. “To be here with this group of guys, in this city, in this building, is a dream come true.”

LAS VEGAS —

The Golden Knights delivered their city a true Vegas-style party from dazzling passes to Mark Stone's hat trick to all-out goal celebrations, capturing the young organization's first Stanley Cup with a 9-3 romp over the beaten-up and exhausted Florida Panthers on Tuesday night.

Coach Bruce Cassidy, in a nod to the Knights' brief history, started five of the original Vegas players known as the Misfits and put the sixth on the second shift. Cassidy sounded confident the day before the game that his team would play well, and it certainly did, blowing open a one-goal game in the second period to lead 6-1. The nine goals tied the record for the most in a Cup Final.

“Vegas, you certainly know how to throw a party," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman told the crowd. "What’s going on inside this arena and outside is incredible and a testament to what a great hockey market this is.

“What has happened here has been simply incredible. Not only is Vegas a hockey town, it’s a championship town.”

Vegas closed out the series in five games to win the cup before a delirious franchise-record crowd of 19,058 at T-Mobile Arena that drowned out the pregame introductions of forward Jonathan Marchessault and goalie Adin Hill and cheered all the way through the final buzzer.

Marchessault, who ended the postseason with a 10-game points streak, received the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP.

“I couldn’t be more proud of our team, our organization," Marchessault said. "Everybody stepped up at different times and that’s why we’re winners.”

Stone's hat trick — with the third into an empty net with 5:54 left — was the first in a Stanley Cup Final since Colorado's Peter Forsberg in 1996, also against the Panthers.

Abbie Parr

The Knights got the rest of their scoring from Nic Hague, Alec Martinez, Reilly Smith, Michael Amadio, Ivan Barbashev and Nicolas Roy. Martinez's goal in the second period came nine years to the day after he delivered the double-overtime goal in Game 5 to give the Los Angeles Kings' the cup.

Hill came through with another strong performance that has quickly made him a Knights fan favorite, even earning “MVP! MVP!” chants in the third period. Jack Eichel, the eight-year pro playing in his first postseason, had three assists.

“This is what everyone dreams of," Eichel said. "You come to an organization like this and the expectation is to win this thing. It’s a special place to play. I can’t give everyone enough credit for putting us in this position.

“They call ’em the misfits, those are the guys, they built this. They built this culture. So proud to be a part of it.”

As captain, Stone was the first to lift the cup before handing it over to the six Misfits to each get their turn skating with the trophy before handing it down the line to the rest of the team.

“Unbelievable,” Stone said. “The look in my teammates eyes when I got it, one of the craziest feelings I’ve ever had. I can’t even describe the feelings in my stomach right now. It’s everything you can imagine. The grind of an 82-game season, four playoff rounds. You grind and you grind and you grind.”

Aaron Ekblad, Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett scored for Florida, and Sergei Bobrovsky was overwhelmed in another tough performance against Vegas after carrying Florida to the final. Missing from the lineup was Matthew Tkachuk, the king of game-winning shots during the playoffs but never the same after crushing blow to his shoulder by Vegas' Keegan Kolesar in Game 3.

The Knights have set the standard of what an expansion franchise should look like, making the Cup Final in their first season and the playoffs in every year but one. Six players remain from the initial 2017-18 team that lost in five games to the Washington Capitals in the final.

Those players watched the Capitals skate with the Stanley Cup that night, and then they got the chance to do the same Tuesday to fulfill owner Bill Foley’s quest to win the championship in the sixth year.

“We waited a long time for that moment to come back.” Marchessault said. “We wanted to make sure we cash in this time."

By creating such a lofty standard at the outset, the Knights played with high expectations, but repeatedly fell short despite four runs to at least the NHL semifinals – until Game 5 against the Panthers.

This is Las Vegas’ second pro title in nine months – the Aces claimed the WNBA championship in September – and continues the stunning growth of a sports market that was limited largely to prize fights, UNLV athletics, NASCAR and lots of golf before the Golden Knights took the city by storm. The Raiders began playing here in 2020, the Oakland Athletics appear headed to the desert, Las Vegas will host a Formula One race this year and the Super Bowl will be at Allegiant Stadium in February.

As for the Knights, their connection to Las Vegas was sealed ever since the shooting Oct. 1, 2017 that took 60 lives. They played an integral role in helping the city heal, reaching out to the community off the ice and winning big on it.

Beating Florida justified the many moves Knights management made to remake the roster over the years. Stone, Eichel and Alex Pietrangelo are the most notable players Vegas has acquired to get to this moment.

And Cassidy, hired a week after getting fired by the Boston Bruins last year, proved to be the coach to get them there.

“He came in, brought an intensity to our locker room that maybe we needed,” Stone said. “He wanted to win as badly as anybody else in that locker room.”

Cassidy seemingly pushing all the right buttons in helping Vegas become the Western Conference’s top seed and then the NHL’s champion.

“It’s a great story — very, very grateful to get another opportunity," Cassidy said. "I’m just here to do my job and it worked out well.”

The Knights also won with an unlikely goalie in Hill, who was injured when the playoffs began. Laurent Brossoit was the starter until going out with an injury in Game 3 of the second-round series against the Edmonton Oilers, and then Hill got his chance.

“You dream about it every day growing up as a child.” Hill said. “To be here with this group of guys, in this city, in this building, is a dream come true.”