BURAKOVSKY'S OVERTIME WINNER PROPELS AVALANCHE TO A 1-0 SERIES LEAD IN THE STANLEY CUP FINAL

Ball Arena in Denver was rocking on Wednesday night as the city hosted their first Stanley Cup Final game since 2001.

Avalanche defenceman Josh Manson took the game's first penalty, getting two minutes for holding the stick of Lightning forward Nick Paul. Colorado managed to kill the penalty off and used the momentum from that to take the first lead of the game.

Mikko Rantanen threw the puck on net and it squeaked through Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy, where Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog poked the puck in to give his club a 1-0 lead.

LET THE SCORING BEGIN. #StanleyCup

🇺🇸: ABC ➡️ https://t.co/MaghIRjzUG
🇨🇦: @Sportsnet ➡️ https://t.co/MOir2YeltA pic.twitter.com/scGluR3TUT— NHL (@NHL) June 16, 2022

Shortly after, Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon picked up a loose puck at the blue line and passed it to Valeri Nichushkin, who fired it past Vasilevskiy to put Colorado up 2-0.

Valeri Nichushkin is up and running! #StanleyCup

🇺🇸: ABC ➡️ https://t.co/MaghIR1Yw6
🇨🇦: @Sportsnet ➡️ https://t.co/MOir2YvWl8 pic.twitter.com/1pxnpnLenY— NHL (@NHL) June 16, 2022

Just over three minutes later, the Lightning got one back courtesy of forward Nick Paul, who skated past Erik Johnson to pick up Victor Hedman's pass, tapping the puck past Darcy Kuemper to cut Colorado's lead to 2-1.

Nick Paul gets the @TBLightning on the board! ⚡️🚨#StanleyCup | #GoBolts pic.twitter.com/ZiZRi17jHB— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 16, 2022

Late in the first period, the Avalanche had a 5-on-3 power play after Mikhail Sergachev and Anthony Cirelli both took tripping penalties in quick succession. On the power play, Avs forward Mikko Rantanen found his fellow countryman and Western Conference Final hero Artturi Lehkonen in front of the net, who tipped it in to restore Colorado's two-goal lead.

ARTTURI. LEHKONEN.

The @Avalanche are BUZZING 🚨#StanleyCup | #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/WzBsjJz4vw— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 16, 2022

In the second period, with just over seven minutes to play, Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov made a beautiful move to get past Devon Toews, then he slid the puck in front to Ondrej Palat who brought Tampa Bay within one, once again.

KUCH. 😳😲🤯 #StanleyCup

🇺🇸: ABC ➡️ https://t.co/MaghIR1Yw6
🇨🇦: @Sportsnet ➡️ https://t.co/MOir2YvWl8 pic.twitter.com/lZIbzret95— NHL (@NHL) June 16, 2022

48 seconds later, Lightning defenceman Mikhail Sergachev ripped the puck from the blue line through traffic and it found the back of the net to tie the game up at 3-3.

Never count out the defending champs 😤

WE. ARE. TIED. #StanleyCup | #GoBolts pic.twitter.com/cuHFpgsld0— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 16, 2022

The third period went scoreless and with it still knotted up at 3-3, the game headed for overtime. Early in the extra frame, J.T. Compher's shot was blocked and Valeri Nichushkin picked it up and passed it to Andre Burakovsky who put it in wide-open, right side of the net to give the Colorado Avalanche the 1-0 series lead.

ANDRE BURAKOVSKY! THE GAME 1 OT HERO! #StanleyCup | #GoAvsGo | @Avalanche pic.twitter.com/D1DnEVkFs0— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 16, 2022

Game 2 is set for Saturday night at 8 p.m. ET/6 p.m. local at Ball Arena in Denver. As was the case with Game 1, it can be viewed on CBC and Sportsnet in Canada and ABC in the United States.