2022 Stanley Cup Finals
The 2022 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2021–22 season and the culmination of the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs. The series was between the Eastern Conference and two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning and the Western Conference champion Colorado Avalanche. The Avalanche won the best-of-seven series, four games to two, for their third championship in franchise history. Colorado had home ice advantage in the series with the better regular season record.
| 2022 Stanley Cup Finals | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| * – Denotes overtime period(s) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location(s) | Tampa: Amalie Arena (3, 4, 6) Denver: Ball Arena (1, 2, 5) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coaches | Tampa Bay: Jon Cooper Colorado: Jared Bednar | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Captains | Tampa Bay: Steven Stamkos Colorado: Gabriel Landeskog | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National anthems | Tampa Bay: Sonya Bryson-Kirksey Colorado: Amanda Hawkins | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Referees | Gord Dwyer (1, 3, 6) Jean Hebert (2, 5) Wes McCauley (2, 4) Chris Rooney (3, 5) Kelly Sutherland (1, 4, 6) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dates | June 15–26, 2022 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Cale Makar (Avalanche) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series-winning goal | Artturi Lehkonen (12:28, Second, G6) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Networks | Canada: (English): CBC/Sportsnet (French): TVA Sports United States: (English): ABC/ESPN+ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | (CBC/SN) Chris Cuthbert and Craig Simpson (TVA) Felix Seguin, Alexandre R. Picard (Games 1–2) and Patrick Lalime (Games 3–6) (ABC) Sean McDonough and Ray Ferraro (NHL International) Marc Moser (Game 1), E. J. Hradek (Games 2–6) and Kevin Weekes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The series began on June 15, and concluded on June 26. With the Government of Canada allowing cross-border travel for fully vaccinated players and team personnel between Canada and the United States, the league was able to return to its usual two conference alignment and reinstate its standard playoff format that was used from 2014–2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. The Finals were still pushed from the usual start date in late May/early June for the third consecutive year, this time due to a scheduled break in the regular season that coincided with the league's planned participation in the 2022 Winter Olympics, though the league's players ultimately did not participate in the Olympics. When NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman tested positive for COVID-19, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly took over the presentation of the Conn Smythe Trophy and the Stanley Cup. This was the first time since 1992 that Gary Bettman did not give the presentation.