Olofsson, Wedgewood lead Avalanche past Lightning 3-2 in rematch of 2022 final

DENVER (AP) — Victor Olofsson scored twice, Scott Wedgewood made 22 saves for his NHL-leading eighth victory of the season and the Colorado Avalanche held off the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 on Tuesday night in a rematch of the 2022 Stanley Cup Finals.

Playing against his former team, Ross Colton also scored to help the Avalanche — who beat Tampa Bay in 2022 to win the title — push their points total to an NHL-best 21. The Lightning had won five in a row.

Olofsson’s two-goal outing came seven days after his first career hat trick in a victory over New Jersey. Nathan MacKinnon had an assist, giving him a team-high 20 points and extending his points streak to seven games.

Nikita Kucherov scored his fifth goal of the season for Tampa Bay, giving the 32-year-old right wing seven points in his past three games against the Avalanche. The goal gave him 1,005 career points, breaking a tie with Brian Propp for 100th place in NHL history.

Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 31 shots.

With the game tied at 1 in the second period, Colorado scored twice in 1:13 seconds, the first of which came from Olofsson on the power play against the NHL’s third-best penalty kill.

A backhand goal from Brayden Point early in the third period cut the Avalanche’s advantage in half.

Avalanche: At Edmonton on Saturday night.

Lightning: At Vegas on Thursday night.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl