Colorado Avalanche wins 4-3 against Tampa Bay Lightning in Stanley Cup Final opener

• Avalanche defeated the Lightning in the first game of the Stanley Cup Finals.
• Avalanche will look to win the third cup back-to-back.
• Lightning will look to win third third cup since 1996.

Wednesday’s game one of the NHL Stanley Cup Final was won by the Colorado Avalanche, 4-3, over the Tampa Bay Lightning, two-time reigning champions. Andre Burakovsky scored the game-winning goal at 1:23 of overtime.

Burakovsky, who had been hampered by injuries in recent weeks, buried a one-timer from the right side with 26:21 remaining in regulation to seal the victory.

Read more: Colorado Avalanche eyes third Stanley Cup since 1996

Valeri Nichushkin scored and was assisted on the goal by Burakovsy.

Gabriel Landeskog had a goal and an assist, and Mikko Rantanen had two assists for Colorado. Darcy Kuemper made 20 saves in his first game since suffering an injury in the first Western Conference final game on May 31.

“It feels amazing,” said Austrian-born Swede Burakovsky. “I think we really battled through this whole game.

“We had a little mental breakdown in the second period, but I think we bounced back in the third.”

Read more: Tampa Bay Lightning aim for their third Stanley Cup in a row

The Avalanche, who had a nine-day break after sweeping the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference playoffs, stormed out to a 3-1 lead in front of exuberant home fans at Denver’s Ball Arena.

However, the Lightning scored twice within 48 seconds to tie the game in the second period.

At 7:47 of the first period, Landeskog gave Colorado a 1-0 lead, and Nichushkin scored 1:36 later to expand the Avalanche’s lead.

Nicholas Paul made it 2-1 at 12:26, but Artturi Lehkonen scored on a redirection of Rantanen’s feed on a 5-on-3 powerplay at 17:31 of the first period to give Colorado a 3-1 lead.

At 12:51 of the second period, Nikita Kucherov’s backhanded pass found Ondrej Palat’s stick in the slot, reducing the deficit to 3-2.

48 seconds later, Mikhail Sergachev tied the game at 3-3 with a wrist shot from 65 feet out that Kuemper failed to track.

Read more: Tampa Bay Lightning advances to Stanley Cup Finals for third time

The third period ended without a goal. In the final 1:24 of regulation, the Avalanche could not capitalize on a power play.

However, Burakovsky ended the game fast in overtime to put Avalanche in a position to win their first championship since 2001.